Today’s Because of Jesus post is by my beautiful Louisiana friend, Leslie Lamb. The power of Jesus saved her and I’m so thankful!

Everyone has a story, that moment, where life took a turn, where our faith became our eyes, where what we thought we knew of God became so much more than we expected. Some are in the midst of that story, some have yet to experience it, and some, like me, are living out the rest of the story.

I was seventeen years old. I had come to a place in my life where the choice was set before me to live or to die, and I had chosen death. I had been saved at the age of six and baptized at the age of twelve, and I knew that what I was thinking was a sin. But, it didn’t keep me from thinking it, from plotting it, from being convinced that God would understand. Some would say I had given up hope. I hadn’t given up Hope, I had merely lost faith that I could live, or that the life I lived mattered.

Of all the places you imagine Jesus finding you, on the pink tiles of a girls dormitory with a blade to your wrist, is not where you would wish it to be. But that is exactly where I was, and His voice was real. His whisper was intentional. It washed over me like a wave almost tickling my ear. It was strong and powerful, and He only spoke two words, “For Her.”

A happy ending would be to say that I threw down that blade, reached out to God, and I lived happily ever after. The truth is, it was a long climb up a steep hill of pain and realization and healing, but with each step I took, He led me. The journey became a dance. It’s when I began to write, anything and everything. It’s in writing that I heard His voice most clearly. It’s as if the Holy Spirit would come alive through my hands. I wrote out all my problems, my hearts deepest groaning, and my Savior’s answers would find themselves between the lines.  We’re still dancing.

I’m not the greatest writer, anyone can do what I do and probably do it better. I simply write my heart, His heart in me, and my passion is to offer life and hope to another teenage girl that has given up faith that her life matters. Because of Jesus I’m alive, and because I’m alive I live to extend hope to the hopeless, sight to the blind, and long to see the lame dance! I am living for her. See, there is a generation of girls that feel that they will never be invited to dance with the Prince, but I know, they are merely wallflowers. His invitation is for one precious girl at a time. It’s my job to introduce them.

Leslie Lamb is an author and speaker. She is called to educate and to equip teen girls in this generation to live out their callings, to have hope that their lives do have purpose, and to find the encouragement to live out that purpose. She has had 2 teen fiction books, “Kiss, Bang, Boom! Book One: Zella’s Story” and “Paper. Rock. Scissors. Book Two: Celeste’s Confession” published and is working on her third, with many more stories developing. She was just announced as Director of LeadHer Academy – the teen division of a woman’s ministry called LeadHer, developed to encourage and equip women to influence their communities for Christ. She often says “It is out of our pain, God births passion.” and that is exactly why she does what she does. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and two daughters.