Thursday, April 6, 2017

Thankful Thursday - Purpose

"I think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive." Amanda Lindhout. 

Amanda was trapped in Somalia, a country known for terror activity and a place where women's lives matter little. 

Amanda was held by terrorist for 15 months. She was kept in chains, in a dark, windowless room, without any clean drinking water and little or no food. She was brutally raped and treated less than human. Although the Canadian government gave up fighting for her freedom, her single mother never did. It was her mother who finally got her release. 

Amanda gets survival. She understands that nothing is impossible to survive from - not a kidnapping by crazed terrorists, not a broken marriage, not a loss of a child, not a diagnosis of cancer, not depression or addictions or anything. 

The resilience of the human spirit is amazing. Throw faith into the mix and BaBam! You got a miracle in the making. 

I ran a group this week with some pretty amazing woman - woman of all ages and from all cultures - women who are survivors fighting to live their best lives. I came home incredibly inspired by them - inspired by their survivor mentality, and their refusal to give up and settle for anything less then life's best. 

After surviving her horrible ordeal, Amanda decided to speak about the people of Somalia to raise awareness about the conditions in which they're living. More than that, this amazing woman went back to Somalia to help the women and children there who have no power and no voice. 

When I heard that I wondered how could she go back to a country where she almost died, a country mired in terror and fear, a country that hurt her the most? But it was love that drew her back. Love for those who can't fight alone, who have no voice. 

A
nd that's the thing I think with surviving anything. It makes you want to reach back and help others make it too. It gives you a purpose. 

Here's to not only surviving but to finding our purpose in the awful and in the hard times. Here's to saying yes to reaching a hand out to those still trapped in their nightmares. Here's to not allowing what we lived to define who we are. And here's to letting love and courage define us. 

Happy Thursday, Guys.

4 comments:

DUTA said...

Indeed, the human spirit enables us, human beings, to do incredible things under the worst of circumstances. My Mom, a Holocaust survivor, used to say that humans can prove to be harder than steel, their spirit - unbreakable by suffering.

Connie said...

Wow, Amanda's story is an amazing one. Very inspirational.

Lowcarb team member said...

I knew something 'made' me come to your blog today ... and now I know why.
This truly amazing and inspiring post.

There are special people in this world and Amanda is one of them.
God bless

All the best Jan

Lux G. said...

I truly admire people who risk their lives to reach out to people who are most in need. May God continue to protect them.