Helen Roseveare

http://refocusingoureyes.com/missions/roseveare-interview#more-4671

Dr. Helen Roseveare was an English Christian missionary to the Congo from 1953 to 1973. In 1964, she was taken prisoner by rebel forces and remained a prisoner for five months, during which time she endured brutal beatings and rape.

In her own words:
They found me, dragged me to my feet struck me over head and shoulders, flung me on the ground, kicked me, dragged me to my feet only to strike me again—the sickening searing pain of a broken tooth, a mouth full of sticky blood, my glasses gone. Beyond sense, numb with horror and unknown fear, driven , dragged, pushed back to my own house—yelled at, insulted, cursed…

Through the brutal heartbreaking experience of rape, God met with me – with outstretched arms of love. It was an unbelievable experience: He was so utterly there, so totally understanding, his comfort was so complete – and suddenly I knew – I really knew that his love was unutterably sufficient. He did love me! He did understand!

He understood not only my desperate misery but also my awakened desires and mixed up horror of emotional trauma. I knew that Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” was true on all levels, not just on a hyper-spiritual shelf where I had tried to relegate it….He was actually offering me the inestimable privilege of sharing in some little way in the fellowship of His sufferings.

The grace that was given her was that she was enabled to thank God for trusting her with such an experience, even if He never explained “why.”
She states:
I have looked back and tried “to count the cost,” but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.