I recently interviewed the amazing Jessica Vaughn on the Hope in Struggle Podcast.

She is a living, breathing example of what Hope in Struggle is all about.

Jessica has written two wonderful books, A Worthy Wife and Know Your Worth: Conquering Your Past for a Powerful Future.

Just by reading the titles of those books I knew this was my girl! 

Jessica and I discussed her painful past and her struggle to find worth because of it. She, like so many of us, searched for worth in all the wrong places. Over time, she got into fitness and looked to be seen and heard through that. As wonderful of a thing as fitness is, even that can be used the wrong way. Fitness became her god as she clung to the feeling of control it gave her over her own body and life. Eventually, she realized that she wasn’t feeling fulfilled and she still struggled to feel her worth.

Jessica later came to know the Lord and developed a personal relationship with Him and found that there was a purpose to her pain.

How many of you can relate to Jessica’s story?

When we experience pain in our lives it can be so easy to look for escape in all the wrong places. When the people that are supposed to love us treat us badly it is easy to forget that we have worth or to try to find our value from things that turn up empty.

That is not God’s way.

God can take our pain and use it for His glory and for our good. Not only CAN He do that, He WANTS to do that. He loves us all, no matter what. He is waiting for us to recognize that we need Him. He is waiting for us to tell Him that we are available. The pain is not the end of God’s story.

Check out the Hope in Struggle podcast to hear more of Jessica’s story.