Karen Green’s story is a difficult but powerful one with teenage pregnancy, abuse, drugs, and addictions all of which ultimately lead to her being incarcerated. But it was there that she met Jesus, and her whole life was changed. Now she has a full time ministry in Texas called Haven of Love that helps young women get off the streets and find hope.
She shares that the time of her transformation wasn’t actually her first time hearing the Gospel.
“…it was the same word that I used to hear my daddy preach, but it was something different…what happened that day is that I surrendered and, you know, I admitted I was powerless and I turned my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him.”
This change of heart and ability for her to submit her life to God came from a larger realization she had made about the problems in her life that she was working to overcome.
“…There was room to receive the Spirit of God because I had begun to deal with those issues. I said before that I had went through nine treatment programs trying to get this together, but I did not know that I had to deal with the root issue.”
This root issue isn’t only in Karen’s past, either. We all struggle with problems in life, and we’re all in need of surrendering them to God.
“…We as people, not even just being on drugs, we have life problems, you know? We have a living problem and that problem is sin from where we come from, what we have been exposed to, what our life was as a child, and unless we deal with those issues and allow God to come in, our lives won’t change.”
In our lives we experience many offenses, trials, and can often feel like life is unfair. Karen says that these moments and experiences cover our soul, darkening it. But once we realize this and submit ourselves to God and His Word, then that is when we can be transformed.
“…What the Word of God does is it comes back and it begins to peel back the layers so that your soul can get light, and you can begin to live…The Word of God brought me life, and it shed light in those dark areas.”
When we deal with the issues in our lives, just as Karen did in hers, we open ourselves up to receive God who then takes over and transforms us. He gives us healing and he gives us hope, no matter what we’ve done or been through.
