Sermon Illustrations
Operation Cleanses Abuse Victim
Maylo Aames' life was as bad as it could get. Bud, her mother's boyfriend, raped and beat her for years. Maylo's mother ignored the abuse her daughter suffered. Even her father refused to listen to her cry for help. Maylo says, "The older I got, the more I fought with Bud—and the more violent the rapes became. He told me if anyone ever found out what was going on, he would kill me."
Maylo escaped to Hollywood and a life of drugs and alcohol. Eventually she began an acting career and put an end to her destructive behavior.
A visit to the doctor brought news of internal damage created by the years of abuse. Maylo would also have to undergo an operation for cervical cancer. This increased her rage for the man whose abuse made it unlikely she would ever have children.
Maylo described the operation as a turning point.
Even though I didn't know God, he began to heal me. Before I fell asleep in the operating room, my doctor leaned over and said, "When you wake up, there won't be one spot in you that that man has touched. You will be clean." When I woke, my body was my own. My doctor will never know what a gift he gave me that day.