Miracle Moments

There is a beautiful woman from Africa living at the battered women's shelter. She is afraid of being alone. Her fear, kept her in a 9 year marriage to a man who almost killed her. The abuse got so bad-she had to face her fear of being alone and leave...Every week when she shares-she grieves the loss of his companionship...she says she likes being married...because she doesn't like being alone. This young woman doesn't realize it yet-but she is not alone...none of us are....not even when we are by ourselves or feeling lonely-the truth is we are never alone... I thought about this woman today as I sat in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the Catholic Church around the corner from my home. I go there when I need prayerful direction, comfort and yes-when I am feeling alone. I remembered today how really alone I used to feel as a child and well into my adult life. In fact I clearly remember a day in my early twenties, at the beginning of a promising TV career and a new marriage- ...

Mona may not make it through the night. She sleeps with a man who sleeps with a knife. He is the same man who verbally, emotionally and physically assaults her by day. It's been this way since she married him more than four years ago. But she can't bring herself to leave. She is afraid for herself, for her four year old son-and even for her abuser. Imagine that-worrying about the man who hits her, stomps on her feet and threatens her life. Mona is trying to win his approval-to change him-in hopes that he will love her and protect her and that her life will evolve into the fairytale she dreamed about as a child growing up in Lithuania. But tonight-as she shared her story in a room filled with battered women, Mona admitted her fairytale dream had turned into a living nightmare....and that she is in fact a prisoner of her own fear. An unwitting accomplice to the abuse that is slowly sucking the life out of her. Mona is trying to summon the courage to leave-again. This time for goo...