Meet Joanne

I am aware that I usually spend my life with people who are very similar to me and often view life in the same way. I I love meeting whose lives and perspectives are so different to my own, it chalenges me to think why I do say and think the way I do. Joanne was one of those people. Calm and confident, she came across to me as someone who was very comfortable in her own skin and happy with her life. Her story amazed me. Her life has been transformed from suffering from an eating disorder, being suicidal and addicted to alcohol and drugs.  She now lives life feeling completely free  of her past and has a deep sense of happiness and contentment and it shows. She runs a support group for women who like her, through a series of life events have ended up working in the sex industry and are wanting to leave it behind.  (www.timeisprecious.net).

When I met her, she was on the way to San Francisco to go into the strip clubs and give the girls presents. She would also give them a copy of her story and how she got away from the sex industry to give them hope of that for their own lives.

Joanne grew up with a Step-Father who was alcoholic and abusive, when she tried to tell people what was happening, no-one believed her and she was left to deal with it on her own. She threw herself into sport  but got into drinking and taking drugs whilse she was still at high school.  In her final year, she was date-raped at a party and later found out that she was already 14 weeks  pregnant at the time of the party. Her son was born  weighing under 4lbs and, overwhelmed with all that had happened in her life, she tried to commit suicide. 

Life got even harder when her 16 year old sister was murdered. Desperate for a new start, she moved to Las Vegas, hoping to leave the alcohol and drugs behind her. She found that life started to get better but then she met a lady whose lifestyle she envied. She  lateer found out that this ladies glamorous clothes car and house were funded by her job as a dancer at a strip club. This lady encouraged Joanne to try the job for a night as she would make a lot of money. Joanne agreed to give it a go and intended to do it once but one night became six years.

One evening she was too drunk to drive home so a friend dropped her home . When she went to pick up the car from the Valet the next day, she heard an audible voice say ‘Joanne, you have a serious problem, you need to get help’. She turned to look in the back of the car, at the same time realising that she idn’t have a passenger. This was the jolt she needed to realise that her need for alcohol was controlling her  and she rang Alcoholics Anonymous. 

She tells it better than me:  “This was when my life started to change. I went to meetings every night. I learned about God, the Lord’s  prayer and the Serenity prayer. After 50 days of sobriety at work, I walked into the club, paid my fee and got ready for work. I walked out on the floor looked around and I heard an audible voice say, " I have something better for you, this is not for you.” 

I walked up to my mangers and told them I was quitting and they responded to me, no girls leave this environment you will be back.  That night I walked out with no job lined up not knowing what I would do, but remembering God saying He had something better for me. So I got my car out of valet with a trash bag in my hand with all my stuff. I said, God I don’t know who you are, but I want to know you more.  I quit stripping that night, with out a job. I took a leap of faith, quit my money making job and never went back. 

I can't say that my journey from here on out has been easy nor am I perfect or have it figured it all out. But what I do know with certainty is this; The love I have been searching for in others was found in my heavenly Father.  God has poured out his unconditional love on me. He is my comforter, my protector and my provider. 
He is the love I've been longing all my life.  His presence fills my soul and His love never fails. I am sharing my story to bring you hope. God loves you.”

 

Joanne’s story is such a contrast to my own and yet I found myself thinking we have so much in common – not least, a deep indescribable gratitude to a God who planned for us to be alive, knows us inside out and still thinks the world of us, who wants us to be happy and live life to the full and the same goes for you, whatever your story. 

Shared with permission. You can read more about Joanne at  http://www.timeisprecious.net/Meet_the_Team.html