“When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.”

― Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

We watched the movie version of Unbroken over the last couple of nights. It’s hard to watch and imagine a human being having survived something like that.

The craziest part though is the end.

(spoiler alert)

After being tortured physically, Louis comes home and finds himself tortured psychologically. To the point where he can’t seem to live a normal life.

Until he encounters Christ at a Billy Graham revival event.

At this point, he finds the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.

His relationship with Christ then allows him to not only live and be “normal” again, it allows him to forgive those who tortured and mistreated him.

I don’t know about you, but this sure convinces me that there is a higher power. I can’t imagine anything else that could create such a transformation in a human being.

Our hurts, trials and daily difficulties probably don’t equal that of a Japanese POW camp during WWII, but if we allow them, they torture us just the same. They can rob us of the life of joy and fulfillment that is possible for us.

I’m pretty sure that every day after that first encounter at the Billy Graham tent wasn’t perfect for Louis. I’m sure he had at least one or two rough days after that. But, on the whole, and in the long run, he was able to find peace, joy and fulfillment. The same will be true for us. Life will continue to be difficult whether we’ve found Christ or not. But if we accept His invitation, we too can find peace, joy and fulfillment in spite of and in the face of those difficulties.

Make it a great day.

Jake