This is a guest post that was submitted to me anonymously. It literally brought me to tears, and I am so glad that I can share it with all of you. I know it will mean a lot to so many women. If you would like to submit a guest post, please email me at karli at momonawire dot com.

There are not many women in my life who have inspired me. My relationship with my mother had been more of a child parenting an adult during my childhood and young adulthood. But there was one woman who reached out to me at the lowest point in my life, a woman who not only literally saved me, but who set my future on a course to do the same for others.

I was the victim of a brutal sexual assault that left me drowning in anxiety, guilt, and feelings of worthlessness. I had no one to reach out to, and in a moment of utter despair and tremendous emotional pain, I decided that not living was preferable to the emotional pain that was slowly eating away at me. I sat down to a bottle of prescription sleeping pills and a fifth of cheap vodka, truly believing that I had no other choice.

I thank God every day that someone found me in time to save me. And I thank God for the smiling face I woke to, the face of a woman who had been where I was, and who was determined to help me save myself. The first thing she said to me was, “You are not alone. You can choose to continue to be his victim, or you can take back your power, and survive this.” Those words struck me so profoundly, that I wept, and she held me tightly and let me pour my grief and pain onto her.

Some years later, in the same professional field as she, I encountered my first rape victim, in the same place emotionally that I had been long ago. My heart was beating wildly, and I was so afraid to talk to her, afraid of the familiarity of her raw wounds. My hands were shaking. I sat next to her on her hospital bed, desperately struggling to keep my own emotions in check. My mind went back to those words that were so simple, yet which had managed to start the healing process for me.

“You are not alone,” I told her. “You can choose to continue to be his victim, or you can take back your power, and survive this.” I know she saw my own ghosts when she looked into my eyes, and that connection, that knowing that someone understood, that healing was possible, no matter how impossible it seemed, was the beginning of that woman’s survival.

That moment, when I knew I had given to her what she needed, which was what I had needed long ago, was the moment that I was able to finally set my ghosts free. Not only had I survived my ordeal and gone on to help others overcome their emotional problems, but I had given to that sexual assault victim the same gift that I had received - hope. Sometimes, that’s what we need the most.

– Anonymous