China-doll paint sultrifies the little-girl-face beneath layers of makeup no child should wear. Neither mask is a right representation of the shattered child that lives within. With one last look in the mirror to make sure her night work costume is right, Mary reaches for the most important part of her pre-work routine; knowing that without it she couldn’t do the kind of work required of her. This small bag of white dope, her one treasure, is the only thing in life that she looks forward to. The ritual of powder in spoon, adding just the right amount of water, and cooking up the witch’s brew, comforts her in daily repetition; with its promised relief from pain, the one true thing she can count on. Anticipation rises as the dark-brown fluid fills the syringe and Mary trembles as she lightly thumps bubbles upward and squeezes the plunger to let the air out. Expertly, she wraps red-silk-sash tightly around her upper arm and inserts the needle in her favorite vein. She pulls back the plunger, watches it fill with blood, and assured of hitting the mark, she pushes the plunger in. Releasing the sash, she melts in ecstasy and total relief.

These few moments of escape from grim reality are the only Heaven Mary believes she will ever taste or deserve. Mixed with drug-induced dreaming, shards of reality sift in and Mary drifts back to remember the day when her child’s world was smashed and the dark settled in. Mary is only seventeen and though her initial shattering took place three years ago, those three years stretch long with the trauma of a lifetime. The child Mary was at fourteen died suddenly, in a distant time and lays buried deep in memories, covered by filth. Mary doesn’t mourn for her. She hates her and chides her! Mary believed what her mother said and knew she’d gotten what she deserved. She shouldn’t have done whatever she did that invited her mother’s boyfriend into her bedroom. She shouldn’t have frozen in fear. She should have screamed! She should have fought! There must have been something she could have done! How could she be so dumb? So bad? Mary’s mother told her she was born to be a whore and no whore was going to live in her house! Mary found herself on the street, with no where to go. She had no money, no food, and nowhere to sleep. Mary was small back then, alone, and afraid. Mary was still alone and afraid, everyday.

Cold night settled in on that distant day, as Mary huddled on a park bench shivering in fear. Like an angel from Heaven, he appeared with kind words and easily, gained desperate Mary’s trust. With flattery and promises of care and protection the man lured her into a world no childlike mind can conceive or mentally handle. On that frigid ink-black night, Mary stopped being a child and became a commodity. The life her mother predestined for her by her words and actions came to pass. Mary became a whore, even though she was still just a child. No longer part of the world of decent human beings, Mary found herself being sold daily as an object of sexual abuse. Mary was no longer regarded as human. Mary became a sex-toy. In the confusion of her new life, the one thing she knew for certain was that it was her fault. After all, if the police came, she would be the one sent to jail. While the influential men who bought and used her, were kept safe and sent home to their wives. Mary could see how bad she was in the condemning stares of people on the street; especially the women. They looked at her with the same disdainful eyes belonging to her mother. She was lucky the man gave her food and a place to sleep. He was right, he was good and she was undeserving and inherently, bad. The things he taught her that pleased he and the other men twisted her princess-meets-prince fantasies and hopes of true love into personal degradation. Mary quickly learned to despise men. Her heart filled with inexpressible hatred. She wanted to hurt men in the same way that she hurt and it wasn’t long before she became adept at taking them for all they were worth. Bitten at fourteen, Mary at seventeen dreamed of becoming Queen of the Vampires. There was no other dream possible for her.

On a night that seemed like any other night, Mary’s life took a different turn. She sat down on the same park bench where her fate was sealed three years ago and on that bench, Mary found a pocket-sized Bible. She looked around asking for the owner but no one came forward to claim it. Mary didn’t know anything about religion but she knew for certain that she was a sinner too sinful for a holy God! That little book wouldn’t likely do her any good. However, the small book was bound in leather, with pages tipped in gold, and it might be worth something. Mary tucked the Bible in her purse.

Several days later, Mary rediscovered the Bible she’d forgotten about, when she was cleaning out her purse. Curiosity drew her in and she began reading. Mary was shocked and caught her breath, as she read of another Mary who was also, a prostitute. “In this Holy book?” she asked herself. Mary Magdalene was a woman of sin, just like Mary and Jesus loved her! Jesus loved her when the rest of the world despised her and Jesus changed Mary Magdalene’s life. She became one of his most devout and closest followers. Mary began to cry as suddenly, a rush like warm wind enveloped her in love. Mary fell to her knees in response, as words not of herself came pouring from her lips. “Jesus, save me as you saved this other Mary! Please, save me Jesus! Please take away my sin!” Mary fell into a heap of happy tears and then into a peaceful sleep. In her dreams, Jesus came and wrapped her in a new white robe. In His kind voice He said, “Mary, I’ve called you from a life of great tribulation to walk with me in a new way of life unlike, the only life you’ve known. This white robe is your dignity, stolen when you were only a child, and I’m returning that dignity to you. Follow me and leave your old world behind.”

When Mary woke up, nothing had changed but everything was different. Mary wasn’t the same. Mary was loved and she knew it. Mary was no longer alone and her old life changed because her new life was directed by God; and He opened the doors that allowed Mary to escape her life of degradation. Through faith, Mary received strength to change old habits and build a different life. Just like Mary Magdalene, she loved Jesus with unquenchable devotion and never looked back with longing on her old life of sin. Protected by her Heavenly Father, Mary became the lady she was intended to be. With her old life of sorrowful degradation behind her, Mary lives a new life characterized by joy! With Jesus living within her, the dark things of her past brought into the light became a light and it shines as a beacon to all other Mary Magdalene’s

Joy sings in recognition of truth, love, grace, mercy, and peace. All the spiritual fruits that are of God, by God, and pleasing to God, cause joy to sing praise, even in the midst of sickness and sorrow. Joy is the proper attitude for enduring hardships common in life but joy is not a manic state. Those with joy in Jesus are still susceptible to experiencing pain and all that is against God, in the form of sin causes those with joy, to weep. Of all the sins that cause joy to cry, nothing brings tears more quickly than the sins committed by adults against children. Child abuse turns joy to mournful wailing and the nation who ignores her grieving is sure to fall.

Sin brings joy to tears because there is no joy in human degradation and death. There is no more right expression of self-loathing-degradation than the devaluing of children. Millions of unborn children are sacrificed every year, on the altar of free-sex-without-consequence, by abortion used as a method of birth control. Then their parts are sold and haggled over for adults to cosmetically and medically consume. While living, breathing children are neglected and abused so their parents can pursue pleasure, fortune, and power. Everyday, children are bought and sold to be used for the sexual pleasure of wealthy, powerful adults. No Pagan culture of the past outstripped the cruelty endured by children living in our secular culture, today. Children living in this present era are experiencing a holocaust against them that is mostly, ignored. No one has time for children or their problems (except the friendly, neighborhood pedophile). Even those who hold Christian traditions often neglect to honor their children by treating them with the love and respect that is their Biblical, inherent right; in complete disregard of the value Jesus places upon children, too many of us fail in giving children the protection, nurture, and guidance they require and shamefully, even spiritual training is sometimes, used as a vehicle of abuse. Though laws are written to protect children from abuse, children aren’t considered valuable enough to justify the expense of enforcing those laws and thereby, protect their legal rights. Though in God’s eyes, they are as valuable as any adult and even the U.S. Constitution states that all are “created equal”, the hard truth is that children must earn equality first, by surviving whatever their childhood may be and become an adult, before their personal rights are seriously considered. A society that dishonors and devalues its children possesses no lasting honor or value and is under God’s judgment. Dire consequences wait in the wings when a culture ceases to protect those who are weak. There is no hope for a nation or a world that tolerates the slaughter of unborn children, conceived at an inconvenient time and also, tolerates the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children outside of the womb. Without hope, there is no joy and prosperity with the pleasures it brings, will vanish; as negligence and abuse fills society with troubled children and broken adults. God’s judgment falls first, in the natural consequences of sin.

There is a way to break this cycle and as always, the right pattern to follow is found in the person of Jesus. Jesus valued children so highly as to state that the Kingdom of God will be populated by people like them and if we can’t accept the reality of that Kingdom in the same way that a child does, we can’t enter it. The innocence of a child is treasured by God and those of us who love God, ought to also, hold it in high esteem. The cruelty of abuse destroys not only childish innocence but crushes the spirit of a child. Whether the abuse is physical, sexual, or emotional the lasting effect is the same. When a child’s innocence is murdered, that child is no longer a child but a small adult-too-soon. Every child inside or outside the womb should be allowed to live out their childhood, while being loved and nurtured. These are very basic rights that should not be denied. Children aren’t possessions or commodities; they are persons with value equal to that of any adult. Those of us who love Jesus must do as Jesus did and take time for children. Value them as God values them and don’t hurt them! Those who have a high regard for children must speak out against abuse instead, of turning a blind eye. Children need us to be the kind of salt and light that brings societal shame to bear and convicts the hearts of those who abuse children. It is the only way for Christians to maintain the right attitude of joy while living in a world that condones the debasing of its children.

God bless America? America, bless God by turning back to Him and honoring our children! May judgment be turned away by obedience and God’s merciful intervention; as America returns to goodness and as a nation, we sit once again in the right position to receive God’s blessing. May joyful freedom ring with equality for all! Even with equality for the least powerful of all our citizens.

Do you hear joy crying? Will you heed her mournful warning?

“As you do to the least of these among you, you do also, to me.”~~~~Jesus

Malachi 4:5-6 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Troubled children grow up to become broken adults. Rebellion is the choice that seems right to a tortured/tormented child but rebellion is destruction invited within. Broken adults carry the trouble from childhood into the present and make decisions based on the faulty preparation for life they received. Some abuse others, while those others abuse themselves and make choices that invite further abuse. Most live by a combination of the extremes. Wrong choices manufacture more trouble and increase personal fragmentation. With every damaging decision the mind grows darker. Thinking infused by chaos turns to distortion and there is no escape. A painful past is relentless in its hounding pursuit. The past can’t be buried alive either and those who try are always discovered as an imposter. The past is part of who people are in the present and pretending to be someone else can’t keep the past hidden for long. Neither is it possible to outrun the consequences of sin. Sin is coupled with death and death badgers those with a troublesome past. No matter how intense the longing for a better life, it remains illusive and there seems to be no way out.

 The only way to repair a shattered life is to be born again and start life anew. True, it’s impossible to be placed again in a mother’s womb and be given a different life; but what is impossible for human beings is possible with God. Guilt and shame from the past is a mortal enemy that must be faced through self-confrontation. A day of reckoning must come for everyone who desires freedom from a distressful past and the consequence of sin. This is the place where Jesus reaches down to those who are no longer strong enough to try to outdistance their past. Jesus is the intense, pure light that beckons to those lost in the ebony night of the soul. He is life to those sickened and spiritually dead from sin. He is the hand reaching down to save. The troubled and broken who reach up and grasp that offered hand, through faith, are rescued. The inner darkness where death dwells with sin is the place where light and life enter to permanently stay. Those who are spiritually dead in sin, rise to live again, as they are spiritually reborn to live a new life. Troubled, broken people now spiritually transformed in Christ, receive a perfect Heavenly Father to protect and guide them, and Jesus (the friend closer than a brother) to teach them the right way to live. Though the earthly consequences of sin may still have to be paid, death no longer hounds those who’ve been spiritually reborn and have received eternal life. Now, they have the power to overcome the destruction of the past, as every dark deed suffered and committed is brought into the light and becomes a light to lead others away from personal destruction. This is the true testimony of Jesus: “I didn’t live the kind of life that made me worthy of saving but when I was utterly lost and valued by no one, God demonstrated His mercy and Jesus saved me.” He will do the same for you and if you reach for the saving arm of Jesus, He will replace the threat of death, you experience as fear, guilt, and shame, with eternal life as your heart is engulfed by joy! He will heal your troubled heart, and mend your broken soul, and even lead you into making peace with your past as the light of His love grows to fill every corner of your being. If you are troubled and broken, worn out from fleeing past mistakes, don’t hesitate to reach back to Jesus, today!