We have to turn back and face the radical, illogical, sacrificial love demonstrated at the cross. Like the disciple Thomas, we have to face our sin and the wounds it caused so that we may remember why He endured so much pain and suffering. When we remember, we see the depth of His love; that while we were still sinners, He died for us. While we were addicted to drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy relationships and wanted nothing to do with Him, He died for us. While we wait in uncertainty, while we are desperate for answers, He continues to die for us. And He dies for us time and time again when we turn our eyes away from His love because we are confused, doubtful, and angry.

But we cannot turn back until we have peeled back every layer of unbelief.

For decades, her life consisted of drugs, theft, arrests, prison, and probation. Nothing that was a part of her world could break the chains that held her captive. And after living that way for so long, it had almost become comfortable for her.

In 2010, everything changed.

On Sunday mornings, Alexandra expected to be beaten.

Whether it was being struck with a belt, a metal cane, or an extension cord; pummels to the knuckles with the handle of butter knives; or the hyperextension of each of her fingers, Alexandra knew that she would suffer at the hands of her adoptive mother in some way. And she knew that immediately afterward, she would be primped to perfection and sent off to church as if none of it had ever happened.

With so many societal pressures to be different than God calls us to be, to conform to a mold fabricated by a mixture of influence from the media, our culture, and our insecurities, the challenge Patrice faces to serve God in the ways she does would make most of us stop before we even truly considered starting.