Nothing God creates is a waste.

That includes the people who enter your life, for good or ill. Even the ill we endure is never wasted, because it gives us an opportunity to learn and grow.

So says someone who’s not endured many ill relationships in her life. Sure, there have been a few with almost deadly consequences, but those are mere hiccups compared to what others have gone through.

I met a gal a few months ago at my church. I was thrilled to meet her — another writer! Finally, someone else who’s also writing from a Christian perspective.

Julianna is writing her life story — and reading only three sections up to the 4th grade, it’s a doozy. How she survived, and even thrived is nothing short of a miracle.

When I first met her, I saw a quiet, unassuming confidence and contagious joy. I never would have guessed she hated herself growing up, and was abused in ways I can’t describe even with an 18+ rating.

"I’m not a writer," she said once. "God’s merely telling me to write my story."

Not a writer. Ha!

Anyone who can tell a story simultaneously passionate yet with clinical precision, and at the same time describe what a young girl experienced without interjecting adult understanding, that’s a gift only God can give. It must take a tremendous amount of strength to revisit all those memories as well. I don’t know if I could do it, but then again, God never asks us to do something without giving us the means to accomplish it.

Why did God place her in my path? No idea, but I’m not going to question it. I have an opportunity to learn about a life foreign to mine, yet be able to understand and even empathize with it.

I get to see God’s handiwork in a damaged soul.

Now it’s your turn. Either as a comment here, or in your blog, describe to me a person who entered your life that left an indelible mark — for good or ill.