Why do we do what we do? Here’s a message from our Executive Director Sarah Hill on what our Beautifully Flawed Retreat for young women with limb difference means to her:

Beautifully Flawed is a program that hits especially close to home for me. I struggled a lot with body image due to having several scars from several different surgeries I needed to save my life. My first surgery was when I was in the 6th grade. I was gravely ill and needed to undergo an 11-hour operation to have my stomach rebuilt. When I awoke, I had a nine-inch scar down my stomach, and a tube out my side. It could not have come at a worse time, I was just beginning junior high school, and was already having to deal with so much change that happens during these years.

 

From that surgery on, I would wake up every day being reminded that I was scarred, thus interpreting that as not being beautiful. When I moved to Hawaii to work with youth, I struggled with telling young girls that they are worthy, when I did not believe that was true for myself. I remember calling out to God, asking Him for help, so I could see myself through His eyes. As I prayed I felt the question posed to me, “Sarah, do you not love Me because of my scars?” I responded, “Lord, when I think about you, I do not think about your scars, but if I were to think about them, they would only make me love you more because those scars were for me.” I then heard, “I have called your husband to love you with that same kind of love. Those scars are for me, a testimony I want you to use to inspire others.”

 

It was the greatest freedom I had felt in years. Since this encounter, I have seen God use those scars as I have talked about them to audiences around the world, seeing others freed from their shame. Through Beautifully Flawed, we have seen many girls find purpose, and healing, along with a voice to inspire others through their story too. I think we all deal with shame at some point in our lives, but when we give God a voice to speak through that shame, we see God use it to produce something beautiful.