Meghan's story - "I just needed to be received"
After 30 years of being trafficked, Meghan experienced Jesus when a group of friends simply received her into their lives.
From a toddler, Meghan had thought of herself as a product and not a person. Her body was sold, it was property that made money for others. She experienced a lot of trauma.
She tried to leave several times and some of those times she ran to churches or tried to get connected in those communities. The people were just not properly trauma-informed on how to deal with her, so the concept of God and what she was made for became very distorted. Her belief was that God had created her to be abused. She was trapped under the ownership, power and control of other people.
"It was really easy for people to look at me and be like oh well, she's a stripper, a prostitute, a drug addict and so I don't believe anything she says. Or you could just leave and didn't understand how dangerous it would be to leave. The first time I tried to leave, my trafficker found me in a shelter and beat me so badly that the Emergency Room doctor wrote in the notes that it was the worst thing he'd seen on somebody alive in 10 years."
Then she met several Christians who just wanted to be friends. Carolyn, a registered nurse had been struck by a survey that found that 88% of of all survivors of trafficking had contact with a medical care professional yet only 2% of all reports come from the healthcare sector. She was determined to change this. She got a phone call from the police asking if she would be part of a response to get Megan to safety. Another person was Maggie who helped out at an anti-trafficking organisation. Yet another was Sarah Johnson, a hair stylist.
All three moved from knowing Meghan to having a really deep friendship with her. Meghan said that she didn't need to be rescued, she needed to be received.
Meghan started asking questions about God after some time because of the what she saw in the helpers. One night when Sarah and Meghan were talking about what to watch on TV, Sarah tentatively suggested The Chosen as she had been wanting to watch this for some time. The first series develops the story of Mary Magdalene among others. Meghan identified with the things Mary had gone through as a prostitute. Jesus had healed and accepted Mary. That was mind-blowing for Meghan and she continued to watch it and see the character of Jesus and the disciples - the way they did things, the way they celebrated, the way they had fun and had community.
She began to envision Jesus as being far different than a controller or a barrier to God - much more of an inviter to the Father and so she believed and became a Christian. There was much celebration.
Shortly afterwards, she developed severe health issues - her digestive system died and she sadly passed away in hospital surrounded by her friends. Her friends are comforted to know that she is now with Jesus and completely healed.
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Geoff Knott, 23/08/2022