October 12, 2009

An Abused Child Finds Someone Bigger Than His Father
by Pastor George Van Alstine

Tyler Perry, known for his producing, directing and acting in a unique genre of movies emerging from the African-American experience, has written a very personal e-mail message that is being noticed in many online sites. He writes about how moved he was while watching the soon-to-be-released film Precious, the story of a teenage girl struggling to deal with the scars from a life of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Perry was celebrating his fortieth birthday, and he reflected on his own childhood of abuse at the hands of his father. He decided to share this with the many fans who read his website. You may read about his painful memories at http://www.tylerperry.com/_Messages/

As he tells his story, Perry remembers how helpless he was, with little help from his mother or from other family members. But he came to realize that he was not alone:
“I was asked recently how I made it through all of this (half has not even been told), and my answer to that is ... I know for a fact that there is a GOD. When my father would say or do those things to me, I would hear this voice inside of me say ‘That's not true’ or ‘Don't believe that’ or ‘You're going to make it through this.’ I didn't know at the time what ‘it’ was, but today I surely have no doubt that ‘it’ was GOD. That voice always gave me comfort. It allowed me to hold on. It kept me from being strung out on drugs, from dying when I wanted to commit suicide. It kept me from being a gang banger or drug dealer. Worse than all these things put together, it kept me from being him [my father]. It brought angels to comfort me after every foul word or every welt on my legs or back. GOD, only GOD.”

At the end of his message, Perry writes
“I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine, but you too can make it We're all PRECIOUS in his sight.”
Many people responded to this posting, telling there own heart-wrenching stories. Read through their messages and, one by one, pray that GOD will make himself known to them in their darkest moments.