Take Back the Night

I sit on the ground and I am ready to leave
But I know that I cannot leave just because I don't want to listen anymore
And I watch girls in their sorority sweatshirts get up and go
Because they have checked the box they had to
and they showed up
and I want to judge them but I cant because I see

Myself

in every girl who gets up to leave
and we sit on that ground and listen to girl after girl stand in front of us
and tell this group their story about how their heart was broken, about what is stolen from them
girls tell us the stories of how they were raped
and I don't even want to write that in this blog because that word is an
ugly word
and it makes people uncomfortable and we don't want to talk about it or hear about it
and I want to tell them to stop, that they don't have to share what happened, but maybe they want to share what happened
maybe they need to
maybe they know that someone else will have the courage
maybe they know that their voice represents the girls who can't or won't
And I asked myself, why am I here?
To listen.
Thats really it. And also that if they only people who care deeply about assault are the ones assaulted...
but the hardest part was when they would say, "my story has a happy ending" and they would say how now they are dating someone who asks for consent and someone who is sweet and someone who cares and that we should all just wait because there are really bad guys but there are also good ones and once you find the right one everything is going to be fine
and I just think of the woman who was bleeding who grabbed hold of Jesus and he sought her out and he called her

Daughter

and I think of the woman who was being stoned and that he said
he would not condemn her
and I want to tell every single one of these girls that I'm sure they've got nice boyfriends but that the king of the universe is
 in love
with them.
That they are pure and perfect in his eyes.
That he bore it.
On the cross.
And that he loves the ones who hurt them.
And that forgiving, which I cannot pretend to understand and realize is beyond difficult, does bring healing. Because he promises it does. And because their crime did not go unpunished. It was placed upon the brow of our Savior.
And I was sitting there and I thought to myself, Jesus you are bigger than this pain and this sorrow and this darkness. Your kingdom is the kingdom of light. Hope is in you. Hope is not in any relationship here. Only in you.