How God Saved Me!
Those who follow my work will not be surprised to hear me say that God saved me. Maybe you listen to stories like this often, perhaps you are rolling your eyes right now in disbelief...maybe you are a fellow Christian who has seen the light – and gets it. Whatever the case, it doesn't detract from the truth. God saved me, and moving to Hollywood helped me see that.
Hollywood
Like any big city, Hollywood has some pitfalls into which any unprepared woman might fall. All around there are vices to be navigated around, sins to be found and danger to be had. When you first move to the big city, doe-eyed and innocent, you are not prepared for the world you are about to encounter. You become a deer caught in headlights, frozen in the path of certain death but helpless to do anything about it.
There are so many potential sins in the city that I don't want to get into them. Some of the things you can expect to encounter as a Christian moving to Hollywood can be outlined in this article in Evangelical Focus. Even if you are not a Christian when you move to the big city, you can expect to find lust, sex, drugs, and alcohol everywhere you turn, and temptation can get the better of anyone.
The Big City Is a Lonely Place
The worst part about moving to a big city is the overwhelming loneliness of not knowing anyone. As this article by City Metric points out; isolation is common in a big city. Sometimes being surrounded by people you do not know is worse than being on your own entirely. My point is that when you first move to the city, you are lonely, vulnerable, and looking to make friendships wherever you can. Moreover, in your desperation, not all of them will be positive.
When I moved to Hollywood, I went through all of these things. If it hadn't been for my belief in God, I might have been seduced by the glitz and glamour, the pubs and clubs, and the so readily available drugs. I could have ended up being one of the many homeless people on the streets. I might have lost everything to gambling, to pornography, or promiscuity. As I walk the streets of Hollywood and look around at those less fortunate, all I can think about is how it might have been me. Without God, it really could have been.
We are all different, and yet we are all the same.
God Saves
God saves. Not even just your soul, either. He gives each of us a moral compass with which to navigate all of the temptations before us. He provides us with the ability to tell right from wrong. That same ability sets us above the animals, allows us to live fruitful lives and stops us succumbing to the evil in the world. It is this core that means we are all the same, that encourages empathy, and that urges us to take care of one another.
The moral of this story? God saved me. Even if you don't believe in Him, those who do his work on earth are those most likely to offer you a hand when you need to be helped up.
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