Miraculous Hope: From Teen Rape, to Street Junkie, to Sex Slave, to Human Trafficking, to Forgiveness & Freedom | The Lena Cebula Story!

“You’ve been made for more.” ~ Lena Cebula

Guest Bio: Lena Cebula was born and raised in a post-USSR Ukrainian iron mining town. She has struggled in poverty trying to survive. She is a drug addiction and human trafficking survivor.Today Lena is a wife and mother of three beautiful children. She is an author of a spiritual autobiography called Miraculous. It’s raw and transparent account of her life chronicles. A portion of the proceeds goes towards Fight4Freedom to support survivors of human trafficking and Zonta International building a better world for women and girls. Lena Cebula is a social justice advocate, professional public speaker and host of Love&BLoved Podcast. She is currently working on Christian Leadership Coaching Certification with Western Ontario District PA of Canada. Through her Love&BLoved brand, Lena is sharing the Good News of God’s love and creating awareness about the reality of human trafficking.

SHOW NOTES: 

• Website: https://lenacebula.ca/
• Love&BLoved Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1583527

REMARKABLE LISTENER SPECIAL OFFER(S):

• Go to Lena’s website, https://lenacebula.ca, and on resources page is Free download of “Online Safety” PDF. Check it out and share it with your friends! 
• Save up to 80% off EVERYTHING you order at MyPillow.com/Remarkable with Free Listener Promo Code, "Remarkable". Enjoy! 

CORE THEMES, KEYWORDS, & MENTIONS:

• Light, darkness, shame, guilt, condemnation, USSR, Christian, alcoholism, starvation, black mold, booze, drugs, cockroaches, drugged, raped, teenage pregnancy, losing a baby, physical abuse, drug use, parental rights, parental abandonment, panic attacks, depression, mental health counseling, awakening, Holy Ghost, street junky, opportunity, rock bottom, Muslim, sex trafficking, human trafficking, sex slave, brothel, body guard, prostitute, mercy, heartbroken, betrayal, Love, vow, cultural upbringing, choosing to be angry, Berlin Wall, redeemed, saved, forgiven, lead to Christ, burden of hate gone, compassion, fear, life coach, depression, hope, trust

For more Remarkable Episodes, Inspiration, and Motivation, please visit https://davidpasqualone.com/remarkable-people-podcast/. Enjoy!

Transcript

Miraculous Hope: From Teen Rape, to Street Junkie, to Sex Slave, to Human Trafficking, to Forgiveness & Freedom | The Lena Cebula Story!

Hello, friend. Welcome to this week's episode of the Remarkable People Podcast, the Lina Sabula story. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to cut right to the chase. This week's episode is amazing. Not only does Lina talk about her being prostituted in sex traffic and how she felt at the bottom of life, but she talks most about the hope about salvation, about how God changed her life.

And her miraculous journey, and it's a [00:01:00] journey that you and I can have too. So I believe this is an important episode with so much corruption in all of our governments, with so many public figures involved in sex trafficking. So many of the drug cartels, so many of these crooked criminals in Congress in America and across the world in politics, sex trafficking and prostitution and people being told they're worthless and abuse.

It's out of control and it needs to stop. Now as a sane human, we know it'll never stop until God comes back. However, We can do our part to number one, stop it if we see it. Number two, do everything we can to stop it. And three, and the most important thing is to let the people involved know that God loves them.

There is hope and their lives can be changed like Lena. So take this episode, start sharing it now, listen to it from start to finish, and then [00:02:00] share it some more. I truly believe and hope it not only changes your life, but those around you. And we get to see souls saved from you to anyone else who hears this.

So if you don't know what it means to be saved, you'll find out in this episode. If you're a prostitute, if you're being sex trafficked, if somehow you were, and you just feel worthless in your life, you're addicted to heroin and drugs, it doesn't matter, Lena is going to show you firsthand how God changed her life.

And brought her from the bottom to the top. I'm David Pasqualone. Enjoy this episode of the Remarkable People Podcast now.

[00:02:41] EPISODE Lena Cebula 29 Jan 2024: Hey, Lena, how are you today? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, it's an honor. I was just telling our listeners around the world, a small bit about our episode today.

So they're pumped. I'm pumped. Let's just jump in before we start [00:03:00] though. You know, there's people who this is their first episode. They've ever listened to the Remarkable People Podcast. There's people who've been with us since day one, four years ago, but they know that when they hear your story, it's not just me motivating and inspiring.

But it's going to be something that they can apply to their lives today and get started on a journey of healing and to thrive more. So we're going to talk a lot of things in your life and you're going to bring us a lot of truth. But if there was one lesson, one truth, one, Oh, please apply this. And I know your life will be better.

What is one guarantee you promise our listeners today that if they hang through the whole episode, they're going to walk away with from you? Yes, absolutely, and right away I'm thinking like, oh god, say, like, tell them this, tell them this. I wrote a spiritual autobiography about my past. I didn't speak and share my story for 20 years, so I have those secrets and the darkness lurking in my mind, body, and soul.

[00:04:00] And until I shone light into that darkness. The healing did not come. And I'm telling you guys, one thing, you don't have to write the book, you don't have to go on social media, but you need to let this out. If you don't have anyone that you trust, please write the journal. Write the letter, share this with someone you can trust, but for now, just sit with this, with you and God.

So, if it's gonna come out, you're gonna see it's not as scary as you think it is, and that's gonna start bringing you healing, and it's a first step. So, that's my to you advice. Awesome. And ladies and gentlemen, if again, if you're new to the podcast, Lena and I have trusted Christ as our savior, but not everybody who listens to our podcast or is even on the podcast is a Christian, right?

However, if you walk across the face of the earth, gravity still affects [00:05:00] you, whether you trusted Christ or you don't. If you were to jump off a building, you're still going to fall at 9. 82 meters per second, whether you've trusted Christ or not. If you make good decisions in life, two plus two is always four, you know, you reap what you sow.

So you don't have to be a Christian to benefit from this show. However, All truth comes from God, and as you're going to see in Lena and My Life!, we believe completely the Bible in God, and we can directly account for the growth. But what Lena's talking about, light and darkness, that's one of the best books.

I don't know about you who love it, but I love 1 John. 1 John talks about bringing the things in the darkness into the light, and they heal and they grow beautifully instead of evil. So I'm pumped for this episode, Lena. And ladies and gentlemen, hang with us because obviously, I'm not going to lie to you.

God loves you. We love you. We want to see you trust Christ as your savior. That way you can have joy and peace and all sorts of goodness and blessings. That doesn't mean life will always be easy, but it means you'll have joy and peace during it. [00:06:00] But if you're just looking for growth and success, the same life tips Lena is about to teach you will work for you to some degree.

So listen up either way, take notes and apply it. But now Lena. We know I got to talk to you in private, right? So I'm so excited for this episode. Tell our listeners, let's start at your birth and move chronologically through your life. How did you get to this point where this is so purposeful and passionate and what you're sharing with the world?

Yes, absolutely. But before that, I just want to comment on what you said, because it just touched my heart. I gave my life to Christ when I was 31. So guys, I want you to hear my story and say, whoa, if God forgive her, then he can do it for me. Because honestly, I can tell you whatever, like, thing was happening to you, I can beat that.

So check this out. I would never have imagined that after 20 years of silence, I would be standing in front of the people and sharing my story all over [00:07:00] social media Because in the past, I was afraid of judgment and rejection. Because I thought my story was of shame, guilt, and condemnation. But now I know it's a salvation story.

It's a story of overcoming adversity and thriving after trauma. So I was born and raised in USSR and I lived through this huge fallout from, my country was falling apart, so I was residing in Ukraine that time and, My parents became an alcoholic because they couldn't handle the pressure of the marriage life, plus the society was falling apart as well.

So they lost their jobs. And my home was invested in with cockroaches and mice and black mold. It stunk. It was, it was [00:08:00] dirty and I was starving all the time. And, I was raised in a home full of strangers. They brought booze and drugs, but they brought food as well. So I was hanging around for the chance to eat something.

So that's how I became an easy target for those guys. The government and parents. Didn't protect me, so I was drugged and raped in the basement of my apartment numerous times. Honestly, guys, when I thought things couldn't get any worse, one month before my 15th birthday, I woke up with abdominal pain.

My mother took me into emergency, and they discovered that I'm pregnant. Actually, I'm delivering a baby. I was shocked and confused because I didn't know I was pregnant, I didn't know who her father was, and two hours later, my baby [00:09:00] girl was born, but I knew that drugs, alcohol abuse, and physical abuse would definitely affect her So, three months later, she did pass away from health complications, but, that time, to leave the hospital, I actually have to refuse my parental rights, so they would take the baby and care for the baby those three months.

So, on top of that, Physical pain and shock that I become a mother at 15. I had this guilt, shame and condemnation for this child life. And for the fact that I abandoned her and I start comparing myself to my mother, that she's, was neglectful and, and a really useless parent. So, it, it was so hard [00:10:00] to listen to my mind to, shame me from the death of my child and, I start having panic attacks and depression and anxiety was through the roof.

It was before as well, but not to the point that I felt like I was suffocating. So I'm start looking for heavier drugs because I just need to numb myself. I don't think like I ever thought I want to die or kill myself per se, but I thought If I don't wake up tomorrow, it's fine. This is my life. This is my lot.

There's nothing else for me. And I don't want to interrupt you. Your story is amazing. But I also do want to clarify because we have people from all over the world, different cultures, different points of view. Different generations just within America, the framework is different. So if someone's struggling with anxiety or depression today, there's like everybody bends over backwards to help [00:11:00] you.

But when you and I were growing up, it was a sign of weakness and what's wrong with you, suck it up, get together. Is that what you were experiencing on top of everything else you were struggling with? Thank you so much for asking this question, because I am now 43, only 5 last years I'm learning about mental health.

I'm learning that was the part of the issue too. I'm so grateful that we're all talking about this openly, because no way we can be healthy Without addressing the mental health. And what's interesting was back home, nobody ever talk about that. It's number one. Second one, I was underage, teenager. There was like no social services to come and see like what's going on.

This kid have a kid. Oh, this kid lost the kid. Maybe she needs like grief counseling or something because usually that's what destroyed the mental health, the grief and, [00:12:00] and the fact that we're unable to deal with this by ourselves. We usually need professional help or kind, some kind of support to get through it.

So I'm telling you guys, there's hope. If you need support, go Find it, go Google, go, like, first of all, like, you need to understand, I need this. Something is, like, even, like, if it's from your past or from, from your current situation, it's something hindering your lifestyle, your well being. Like physical or, or even like your attitude.

If you're angry all the time, there is trauma. There is something that you need to address. So please find it. We live in amazing countries and in amazing time when people respect mental health now. So please reach out. So that time it was not available to me in any shape or form. I didn't even know that [00:13:00] it was existed.

And, It, it was really hard to, like, I don't know, I always compare myself to the zombie. You're kind of alive, but not alive. You're just going through the day, but the days were passing months, years, I don't really recall anything. And plus I was on heroin that time, too, because, like, this was only one drug that can hold me the longest time kind of checked out, but it was better to be high than feeling worthless and hopeless and helpless and abandoned and broken.

So, for next three years, I have no idea what was happening in my life. In just one moment, I have this awakening. Now, I know that God speaks to me, but, but that time, I just thought it's like my [00:14:00] Inner being, I don't know, my self preservation or whatever, like you can say, I just start hearing that in my mind, you were made for more.

And it's, it was interesting thoughts because I was thinking, I'm a street junkie. There's nothing for me. Like, there's no hopes, no dreams. I see people like me dying on the street, being killed, like my friend got shot, you know. People going to jail, so there was nothing more for me, but I have this almost like inner longing that I was made for more, and I started being curious.

So then I met this guy, and he said, oh my goodness, you have to meet this lady, she can help you, because I start saying to people, how can I get out? How can I get out from this lifestyle? And [00:15:00] I met his friend. She was wealthy, and she was kind, and she was compassionate to me. She brought me to her house.

She offered me fancy coffee and sweets, and I was so impressed. Nobody cared for me like that. Even my parents never Like, care for me, so when she offered me a job, like, was there no specific just a job, I thought, oh my goodness, it's an opportunity, that's what I was thinking, to get out from this lifestyle.

So literally, I just said yes to anything she asked me to do. So can we pause one second, Lena? Absolutely. There's something you said that's really burdening my heart in a good way. And I want our listeners to make sure they picked up on it. You made the comment about how sometimes we have joy and sometimes we're depressed and sometimes we're angry.

You know, we have different emotions and feelings, but probably the worst play. I'm just saying from [00:16:00] what you just said, you don't have to agree with me, but it sounds like you do. In my life, the darkest days weren't the depression and the betrayals and being alone, because I always had God. The worst days, months, and years were the indifferent.

When you're just numb and dead to everything and you're going through the motion because you don't really even realize how sick you are and how broken you are. God loves you and he's there for you, but we get trapped in these lies from Satan and we almost don't know another way. Is that what you were saying?

You were in just a zombie like indifference. See, that time, I didn't know God, so I was completely alone, I thought, because, but what you, describe, yes, it was literally, like, you blink your eyes, the year is gone. You blink your eyes again, like, I have no idea [00:17:00] where those three years gone, but I, at that time, I didn't know.

I didn't know that I have an enemy who want me to stay in that holding place. I didn't know that I'm fighting against something that I just thought this, it is what it is. And I thought this is going to be my life. And then something happened and almost like my eyes were opened. And I want a change.

But I do believe there was enough time for me actually to, not to forget, you know how people say like time will heal and all this stuff, that wasn't really a healing, but I guess like the time, like being numb, kind of was enough time to pause, almost for me to wake up, and Plus being the same way. Like I actually noticed that through my life, David, that when I'm so at rock bottom [00:18:00] that I don't wanna be staying there anymore.

That's what propel me to get out. Now I know God, and now it's happening faster and better because I know I have support. But that time. By myself, I do believe I have to hit the rock bottom. There's nowhere to go but death. And I'm just moving forward. And let me ask you a question. When I hit rock bottom, I felt angry in a good way.

You know, the Bible says, be angry and sin not. And I, everybody in our society says, don't be angry. Don't be angry. God doesn't say that. God can be an angry God at times, right? So I know that the catalyst for me to get out of holes is anger. Love, but also anger. Like, get up, get off the mat. How did you feel at rock bottom?

Did you feel just love? Did you feel anger? Did you, what did you feel at those down bottom moments? I cannot do this anymore. Like, I would be like, [00:19:00] there's death or get up. Or move forward, or look for an opportunity. And it's funny enough that in those times, I knew that I don't want a death. Because I felt it in my mind and my heart, that calling, you've been made for more.

So that curiosity would not allow me just roll over and die. And I'm just was choosing. To go forward. And honestly, I was taking like everything that looks like an opportunity because nothing just magically change because you want to change. You have to take actions. And doesn't matter how bad they are, you have to do it.

So that time with that lady, I felt this is an opportunity because it's something different with that routine. You know, something came. from the side and, and create the ripple in that, like, groove of the getting [00:20:00] drugs, being high, being off, getting drugs, being high, looking for drugs, getting money, getting high.

So, like, it's kind of, like, all simple minded thing, and then something happening, like, almost cataclysmic to all this, like, process. And my brain saying, I'll take it. Whatever it is, I'll take it. I'm going, I'm doing it. And I was still high because I was like heroin drug addict. Like I wasn't just magically clear from everything.

So I was high. I agreed to everything these people was asking me to do. I didn't even thinking, like, about anything. And one morning I woke up hearing Muslim prayer. Allahu Akbar. Ran out. I don't remember plane ride. I don't know how I went through customs. Just, I, I woke up in a foreign country. So that's nice looking lady and that [00:21:00] opportunity field move end up I've been sold in human trafficking.

Yeah, I was gonna say that man when people when you were at those moments in life you and me and all our listeners I'm saying you as humankind when you're ready for that opportunity God's getting you prepared right Lena, but I'm Satan wants to come in and steal kill destroy So even though God was preparing Lena's heart Satan was using the great deceiver, these evil people.

So continue with your story. But let's definitely pray for discernment in our lives too, that we hear our father's voice and follow it. And even if you don't know God yet, listen to what lean is saying, the good, the bad and the ugly, and just embrace that good, that God. Go ahead, Lena. Thank you. Sorry for all the interruptions.

Absolutely. No, I love it because you actually like pinpointed the stuff that I would just go on with my story, but because you're clarifying, I'm [00:22:00] like, Oh, I have to tell them this. So listen to this. Well, good. Cause I thought I just had a fever. I love talking to you and I love your story and God's using it, but I'm also still sick from that flu.

So thank you. Yes. No, you're doing really good. So the interesting part that the bad and the ugly, and God still turned into victory. I had to be there. No matter how, like, everything, like, I went through right now, at this point of my life, I'm so grateful. You're gonna think, oh my gosh, you've been, like, on drugs, the baby died, and now she's sold in human trafficking, and now she's saying that grateful?

So listen to this story. So I end up in Egypt. And, they brought us into this amazing city that was, I don't know, tourist city. Every, everything was painted white and almost like Santorini, Greece, you know, like for the picture. And it [00:23:00] was so beautiful. And I saw this. Magnificent sunset over the Red Sea when everything turned red.

Like, it was so amazing. I was so grateful in my heart to witness such a beauty because I thought I'm gonna be like that on the streets in a couple years. So I thought like, oh my goodness, there is that chance to have a better life. But next day, Our hotel was, raided by the police because one of the guys who was our guide was flagged as a human trafficker.

So what interesting was, like, I skipped the part that because I was there for, like, around seven days, I they left me in the hotel because I had, like, severe withdrawals from heroin. And before I was thinking, like, oh, this is me, recover, blah, blah, blah. I know, now I know that God saved [00:24:00] me because I, I have a purpose, you know, so I didn't die from those withdrawals, not because of myself, but because God saved me.

So I was in this different country, my mind was so excited, and I think that's what helped me as well physically to, to get through it. But so interesting that when we got arrested, They ask ask the same question, why are you here, implying that we've been trafficked, because it was me and another four girls, or five girls, I don't remember, I think five, but anyway, so Hey, and before you go on, the sex trafficking ring is so freaking corrupt and evil, and you have all these politi all countries, the politicians are involved in it, the famous people are involved in it, and they need to be, honestly, I feel, shot and beat like a piñata, at least.

In the country you're in, you said you're in Egypt. Right, very wealthy, very wealthy [00:25:00] society, very powerful society. You were brought over from, you said, the Ukraine at this point? Yes. Were the other girls from the Ukraine, or were they from the country? Everybody was Russian girls, yes. Okay, so they took all the Russian girls and they were drugging you and gonna basically condition you to what they want.

Okay. I just didn't know if they were coming from other places. It's, it could be that, but they didn't have to drug me. I was on drugs, I was conditioned already, like, I've been raped so many times, I was like, I was a slave, mentally, like, like, you know, and physically, I was a slave, but what's so interesting though, they took our fingerprints, our passports, but because nothing come up, and we had our story, they let us go, but they arrest that guy, but they let us go.

So, So, But because of the earlier police intervention, we were off schedule, because yes, you're right, they have, they have a schedule how they deliver it. It's like, honestly, watching my husband right now [00:26:00] he is in, In the trade, you know, he brings the produce from U. S. to Canada. Listening to him, how he, like, arranged the transport of the fruits and vegetables, like, for, in the beginning, always trigger me thinking, like, that's how they brought at me.

Not like, like, like I'm stuffed, you know, with no feelings and stuff, and they have like, arranged meetings, arranged deliveries, but because we were off schedule, they actually, forced us into to cross the border illegally, and they forced us to, crawl under the barbed wire to go into Israel, because if the, Was no police intervention.

There was like proper schedule to deliver us to another country. So from Israel, they actually put us in the brothel on that [00:27:00] red couch and sold that in the different places. So, and you, you think like, wow, that's, terrible, but for me it was a great because nobody beat me raped me anymore and I make little bit of money.

But the craziest part though, I don't know. I feel like I have to tell you guys because I just start saying this out loud and thinking about and how bizarre it is. So I will tell you this. In my first night, I had 14 clients. I was 18 years old girl with this. teeny whiny braids little boots and a shirt and all of these women who've been there for a while they tried to console me and this guy came like and brought like us [00:28:00] yogurts or whatever something to eat and after that night all I remember It's how awesome that yogurt is.

That's how broken and screwed up my all was like. Identity, my worth, there was nothing. That was zero. All I thought, wow, these people eat like this every day? I love this.

So, one of my bodyguards, because I have actually two bodyguards, that's why nobody can physically abuse me, and that's another thing, I was the luckiest one, because from all those women, women, they wasn't even 20 years old, so they all were young girls, I end up in the brothel that was owned by family business, so I could not be, like, beating, abused, and [00:29:00] stuff like that.

So they have rules and the bodyguards to protect me. So one of my bodyguards actually shared the gospel with me, the good news of God's love. I was born Orthodox and they baptized me when I was seven days old, but my family never have, it's like tradition, like we don't really have any religion. It's a religion, not a relationship.

It's not. And they don't even have religion. Honestly, when everything like in the country fall apart, I do believe because I'm Russian and I'm from Ukraine and I was born in USSR. So end up that we didn't really brought our own tradition there and didn't. And did in two, like, Ukrainian traditions, so we kind of, like, know my land.

And it was so interesting that I kind of, like, was an empty vessel about this part. Nobody ever talk about God this way. So I was really [00:30:00] curious. But I wasn't curious About what he was saying, I was curious who this man is, because in my life, men are violent, they're rude, obnoxious, abusive, angry, that's kind of man that I encountered through my life up to this point, but he was So different, you know, every time I try to describe him It's like word shiny coming through like his face was glowing here.

He was so kind I'm like this I'm like What are you smoking because no way like you're normal and you know drinking not doing drugs and you just like that And I've been there for Almost two years. So I was watching this man and he was always the same. It wasn't like, oh, in a good day, I'm going to be wonderful.

And in a bad day, I'm going to [00:31:00] be evil. No, he was just plain good man. And I'm like, what is this? And he told me it's Jesus. I'm like, okay, tell me about this Jesus. And he just shared his testimony with me, and I was so blown away by the fact that he still struggled. They were persecuted back home because they were Jews and all this stuff.

So I'm like, whoa, so how can you praise the God? But he's still being prosecuted and, like, struggling, and that's how he end up being working in brothel, because his wife got the good job and started taking care of the family, and he couldn't find any work. So he feel, like, so bad as a man not to provide, so he would take any job, and he said, this is what opened up.

But I'm, like, so, like, blown away, thinking, like, wow, God send the person to the brothel to preach the gospel to me. Yeah. So when, [00:32:00] when my grandfather had a heart attack, my friend actually drove me into Jerusalem and I was praying to God at the Wailing Wall. How about that? From the brothel, prostitute, alcoholic, drug addict, I was praying to God.

Praying for my grandfather. And I kid you not, guys, I, I, that time I did encounter Holy Spirit. And later on, I was asking my friend, how come I wasn't Christian? I didn't know anything about God. How come he sent the Holy Spirit into me? And she said, because of your heart. So there you go. You've been loved and you don't even know it.

You've been taken care of and you don't even know it. God don't like what you're doing with your life sometimes, like, [00:33:00] but he loves you. His love never changes. Doesn't matter if you know him or don't know him. He still loves you. So when I finished praying, I knew that my grandfather gonna be okay, but It's actually, I'm also grateful that God show up for me, for me, because I knew that I'm not worthy of his audience.

I'm not like, yeah, all the dark secrets of my life. Went through all my eyes, and I knew that people like me don't deserve mercy, but God did show up, and he answered my prayer, and my grandpa lived another 10 years, and it was another miraculous story, but that's what actually triggered me to leave, because I felt that somebody loves me, so I want to get out from that situation.

Yeah, I love listening to your story, Lina, because [00:34:00] you're being real and transparent, and for our listeners out there, I don't care who you are or where you're from or what your background is. God is amazing and he does love us, just like Lena says. But other than faith, there is no common thread of how God communicates to people in the Bible.

And in our society today, especially within America, we have religious circles that say God performs in these ways, in these confines where it's not really God. That's complete BS and it's not biblical. It is not. I mean, like you were talking about your experience and I think about Cornelius. You know, and then, you know, he was the Italian who was very faithful and devout, probably what we'd consider a Catholic today, but it was an empty religion what he was in.

So God sent someone to teach him to be saved. And before that was Ethiopian eunuch. He's like, I don't want to know [00:35:00] God, but how do I know? So God sent someone to him in, in America. It's like, Oh, you know, or most Christians be like, Oh, God wouldn't send a Christian in a brothel to work there for two years to tell somebody about him.

That's not going to happen. I've had ignorant people tell me stuff like that. And I'm like, I just want to, half of me wants to cry for him and half of me honestly wants to punch him in the face. So it's like this guy God clearly used in your life and now you're using that in other people's lives. So I guess my point, ladies and gentlemen, is when you're listening to Lena, always run everything through the Bible.

But cover to cover Old Testament and New Testament. Hebrews 11. By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. Faith is the only commonality through all dispensations of life and generations in the Bible. It's, it's not religion. It's trusting Christ as our Savior through faith. And when Lena's talking, it's so beautiful because it's God working in ways that [00:36:00] most pastors would say doesn't happen.

And clearly it does. So keep going Lena and thank you for sharing. Absolutely, my pleasure. I want you guys to hear this story in this way, because I want you to stop believing the lies that you're not good enough, that you're, like, I don't know, that you're not doing enough, because honestly, God show up for me because of who he is.

Because he cannot just help himself, but love us. And he want us to be part of his family, because we his children. I don't know, like, if you have good parents or not the good parents, you know. I heard one lady in Bible studies, she said to me, Oh, it's easy for you to talk about God. You probably have a wonderful father.

So I didn't want to go there explaining to her who my earthly father was. But I do have a wonderful heavenly father [00:37:00] who always shows up for me. And that's what the reason. If you have a good dad, you can compare it. If you, like, I have no good father, like, you cannot even compare the good father. If your good father was loving you, your heavenly father, like, loving you a million times more.

But this is, like, kind of, like, side, side message. But honestly, another part, yeah, lots of people, like, ask me when I'm doing podcasts, what? There was a Christian in the brothel? And that's what hit me. Do not hide the gospel. No matter where you are, God will put you in places that you should not be there.

But when you there, be your authentic self. Because that's what plant the seeds in my heart. That kindness of a Christian man. And that's what make me want to get out. Because God did show up and show me that he loved me. [00:38:00] And literally, I had so much peace in my heart that I never had before in my life.

Peace and love. That's the stuff that always. eluding me, like, through my life because of the circumstances of my, like, upbringing. So, I actually, there's another thing, like, you never leave this kind of situation alive unless you have been rescued or you're dead. But again, by the grace of God, I pay off all my debts to them and they allowed me to To go home.

One thing, David, I want to point out, because we were talking about how human trafficking is such a well oiled machine. When I was at the airport, do you know, they look into my passport, where there's no visas, because I grow under the fence so there was like no me coming into the country so they look into my [00:39:00] passport they look at each other they smiled nobody like like not the smile but they they told me that they know they didn't ask me where i've been these two years they didn't investigate how i end up being in that country they just put me on a plane and send me home So, I thought I would start a new life because I've saved up little money, but one of my bodyguards, one, another guy who was like a brother to me, he actually lied that I'm gonna be searched, and because I don't have visa, they would, like, confiscate everything that I accumulate, so he stole all of my possessions, and my trustworthy aunt took All my money that I was sending to her to save up for my future and stole and spend all my money.

So I was like at zero, but like, I was so heartbroken and betrayed because it was so hard for me to trust people. So [00:40:00] I did what I know how to do. I just need to medicate my pain. And three days later, I was hooked on heroin again. So, I needed the money to pay for it, and one of my friends, my good friends from the past, at this time, become number one drug dealer in my city.

So, I became his right hand. I had an unlimited amount of drugs. and money and influence because I was trying to get that worth and value after like being prostitutes for last two years so I tried to impose that power with the money and drugs and And it still didn't work. I still feel empty. And there you go.

Like I was doing the, those of five people when I hurt in my heart again that I gonna die on the, like, go to the cemetery, die over overdose, [00:41:00] or I end up in jail. And again, I heard in my soul saying, you've been made for more. And I decided to quit heroin and. Live by myself. So I got cleaned by myself. I tried to have a job.

And honestly, like that time, my country still was like falling apart. So I realized I cannot be there anymore. So I, this time, second time, I found the people and I willingly sold myself and human trafficking because my body was a commodity. that I can use to get out from the situation that I was. So this time they brought me to Canada and we have to literally take like the trains and the, and the planes and all this stuff.

This is like whole story. As well for me to get here. And here, though, [00:42:00] for a first time, I was like, over 20 years old, somebody told me that I have human rights. Do you know how bizarre it is to hear that, like, my body And like, like, I'm, as a human, have rights. And if I said to someone, like, don't touch me, and they violate me, I can go to police and actually defend myself.

It was so mind blowing. So there's another thing happened. I think that grace of God to couple girls before me got deported because they didn't have documents. And that was, I live in like that in Israel, but here They realize, whoa, like, we're losing money, so they actually submit all my documents to the lawyer, hire the lawyer, and give it to the immigration to start the immigration process so we would be staying.

Why they chose me? Because [00:43:00] I was a slave. I showed them at that time that give me drugs, they put me right back on coke and crack and booze, so I would be, easy to control and manipulate, nobody around, like I'm in a foreign country with a foreign language, so all alone, so it's very easy to control and manipulate.

But then, by the grace of God, I said to them, you know, I like to communicate with the clients, so they allowed me to go and take the ESL classes, and I chose to do that, and a couple months later, I just decided to run away because I already knew that if something happened, please back me up, and all my documents in the government, so they already know that I'm here, so I live in shelter, and Was continue to learn in English.

I was try to clean up from drugs as well, which has helped [00:44:00] me to be in shelter as well. And then I got on welfare for six months so I can get my, Like English up, and in six months I got my first job, and then I was buying, like, it was not enough to pay for everything, but I was covering my paycheck for my apartment.

Well, one room, I was, I was renting one room, and I got a job. Six months later, I was off the welfare, learning English, and around Eight months I got into the government credit cosmetology course. I finished that with 96%. I got the license. I became a hairstylist and 16 years later, I own my own business.

And right before COVID, I heard God speaking to me, saying this is not work you should be doing. [00:45:00] So, I closed my business, I published my spiritual autobiography that I've been writing for last three years, and I start speaking. So, that's one part, but what happened on the side, when I just finished my cosmetology school, I met my husband.

Which is so bizarre, because no way I'm gonna be married, no way I'm gonna have kids, like, I actually was thinking that I'm gonna be, like, dead million times over, but I have this list. That time I didn't know it was God, but I wrote this list. I need this man. He cannot yell, cannot beat me, cannot drink, cannot this, this, so I wrote this list.

Until I get this, No way I'm gonna be with anyone. That's why I thought I'm gonna be alone building my empire, and that's what I wanted to be. I want to build my empire. I wanted to build my worth [00:46:00] and value by achieving, because I assumed if you have medals, trophies, diplomas, if you like learn all this stuff, you can fill the void.

and forget the pain of the past. So that's what I did. I got my black belt, my driver license, my hairstyling license. Like I start working. I'm start feeling all this, my physical needs, because I didn't know I had any mental health problem or traumas or anything like that. But yeah, and there my husband was there and I was so blown away the way he treated me because no matter how pretty was outside, inside I was broken, I was obnoxious, I was rude, my English was like not even there, so half of the time I was swearing just to create the sentence, because I didn't know the words, so I put the swear words inside to create the conversation.

But [00:47:00] plus, like, I didn't know how to behave during the day. I didn't know how normal people from nine to five live. It was so bizarre that I have to, like, almost like I was, I don't know, a 12 year old teenager who just got into the world. That's how I was when he met me. But. He was pastor's son, so he has Christ in him.

That time I didn't know, but this Jesus was loving me through this man. And trust me, I heard so many times the guy, like people saying to me, Oh, you're lucky you've been loved by a man. Listen to me. Everybody have trauma. He is not perfect. He wasn't wonderful angel descending from the heavens to save me.

Trust me. It's been 18 years of work on our marriage, on our mental health, the therapies and counseling and all this just not only because of me. Okay? He goes through his [00:48:00] life. Like, hardcore as well, because what I've learned over the years, you don't have to be raped and abused to actually have a trauma.

If you've been neglected by your wonderful parents who try to, like, I don't know, make money and make the need meds or anything that impacted you negatively from your childhood to this point can be unresolved trauma. So that's what happened. I thought he is amazing because he had like wonderful parents and, and, and family and all this stuff.

And guess what? He never yelled, he never beat me, he never swear. And we decide not to smoke like in the house or house was clean. So those kinds of thing, like he's still the best man that I ever met. You know, but it's because of God in him. And it's funny because just recently we were talking, I said to him, wow, you stuck around by me because I was [00:49:00] like crazy because I was getting offended and limping out because I was so angry and I didn't know how to be housekeeper and a mother.

and a wife. And I was comparing myself to his mother and two sisters that they were been born and raised in Christian home. So I've never been like them. I'm loud and I'm like, I had different color hair and my tongue was pierced and I was smoking and I have tattoos and now I have to be like wife and mother and housekeeper.

Are you kidding me? It was like crash course that I have to figure out how to live like. But the craziest part he told me He says, I probably love you that time 20%, and 80 percent it was my commitment to you and to our family. And I think that was from my side too. I loved him, but the fact that I didn't want a divorce, I didn't want my [00:50:00] child to be without the father, that's what kept me.

But today I was thinking about one thing too. You know why? I still working on my marriage and like, and myself and stuff, because he never left me, because he did not give up, because in the beginning of our marriage, I told him to get out, get out, I don't need you, I can do everything by myself, I live without anyone by myself, but that time I didn't think about really myself and the family, it was totally fear based, because I thought I knew how to be alone, because for last 20 years I was alone.

And he goes, woman, calm down. I will talk to you tomorrow or later or something like that. And he actually talked to me. And I was like, whoa, okay. All right. All right. So that's kind of thing. And I want to tell him, What was his [00:51:00] cultural background? Did you say he was from Canada? This is funny too, because I'm like, honestly, couldn't I marry Mr.

Smith or Mr. Mark Greger or something? But I actually married the Ukrainian guy. Yeah, that's amazing. But you know what? Actually, I was laughing so much that I have this Ukrainian last name and married to Ukrainian guy, but now I understand why God did this, like, or allowed this purpose, because you have the soul that understands me, because of the same cultural upbringing, because his mother his, his mother was from here, but his dad and his grandparents, and his food, and how grandma treat him, like, so we're very similar.

But what's interesting though, that right before we got married, I, I wrote him a letter, like six pages, and I remember, oh [00:52:00] my goodness, he was watching the comedy, and I could see him through the balcony, and I was bawling, writing him that letter, because I want him to know the truth about me, and I want him to choose me, Rather than feel that he been tricked into this marriage, don't know who I am.

Because up to the time that I didn't think that we were serious, I didn't really care because I thought it's gonna be come and gone. But I brought him this letter and I was sure that he's not gonna marry me. Because I wouldn't. I had like no worth and value of being kept. I'm not a wife or mother of material.

Anyway, so here Okay, I don't think like he even take it, because I was give it to him and he said, your past is between you and God. I love you for who you are now. And [00:53:00] he said, burn it, pray about it, all that stuff. But I wasn't with God that time, so I'm like, okay. So, it was kind of like this heavy burden off my shoulders.

But now, 18 years later, I'm thinking, If he would read it instead, he would understand so much more and be more gracious to me with the fact, like, he was asking me, like, what, your mother didn't teach you how to sweep the floor? What, you don't know how to fold the laundry? Like, you know, for him, it was bizarre because that was his family doing this kind of, like, simple task that I cannot do.

So, instead of tell him the truth, because that would lead me. To tell him all truth. I chose just to be angry and I didn't tell him. So that was kind of like whole part of the, you know, healing process when [00:54:00] I actually told him a story because I said to him, do you want to read the book or you want me to tell, to tell you?

And he wanted me to tell him. So I told him everything, even like more than made it to the book. I'm like, what do you think? And he said, there's two thing like I have to tell you. Number one, this book has a purpose. And another one, he's like, Lena, you've been healed. And that was kind of really amazing to hear him that saying, because when my, my daughter was four years old, I give my life to Christ through Alpha Course.

There's another thing you guys like go on my website and check out the Alpha Course. I have like all the resources there because that's what actually helped me to learn about God in non judgmental atmosphere. And it's just Just explain you some, some of the questions that we struggling with. Why am I [00:55:00] here?

Who is God? Who is Jesus? So just check that out. Because on the third day of the Alpha course, I give my life to Christ. And I remember that was the same feeling that I had at the Veiling Wall. And, The Holy Spirit just give me so much peace and so much understanding that I belong to him. I'm loved. And of course, it took me like another, like, like I've been already Christian, what, 14 years now.

And it's Every day, he teaching me something new, and I'm so grateful he didn't ask me to write this book when I was a baby Christian, just in the beginning. It was five years that he was healing my heart, loving on me and explaining to me how I've been redeemed and saved and forgiven. I was such an amazing experience.

So when he called me To look back, [00:56:00] I was reading New Creation, and I said yes to him, just to be obedient, because he was so faithful to me. And I kid you not, that book actually brought so much more healing to me, because I saw his hand From my mother's womb, you know, I saw myself like praying, remember myself praying when I was six year old and he saved me.

Remember praying from the brothel to the wailing wall, which is there. The, the Kotel, I was praying there and he show up, so he's, I saw him throughout my life, rather than I was thinking, okay, that was me in hell before I met God, and then I met God, and I give my life to Christ, and I got baptized, so now I have a life after Christ.

But that was not true. Looking back together with him, I'm like, whoa, he was there, he was there, he was [00:57:00] there. One time I was like, overdosing, like, on ecstasy, and I thought my eyes gonna explode. I was on my knees. I'm like, how did I know to beg someone, but just to beg some omnipotent power of the universe to show up?

I just didn't know that it's my God showing up for me every time I'm on my knees, you know, but now I do. And until I wrote the book, I didn't know that it was Him and His hand on me. Like, when I was pit of despair, He was with me. Like, everywhere, like, He was with me. So that was, like, really cool realization.

But plus, looking back from this new perspective as a healed and loved and forgiven, I actually I saw my mother, and I have compassion to her, thinking like, what kind of mother I would be if I have no hot water, and taken care of three kids, and have a no [00:58:00] paycheck, and have a husband who doesn't love me, or beat me, or drunk, you know?

Like, who would I be in those situation without God, without support of my community? So, I reconcile with my mother. And I led my father to Christ. Like, honestly, I actually led four people of my family to Christ through the fact that I had compassion on them because I saw them from this new perspective.

Because when I was in that situation, it was all about me. I'm hurt. I'm angry. Where were you? Why would you do that to me? Why would you allow it? What kind of parent are you? This is your job. Take care of me. Like it's all this anger and, and this hate that I harbor for 20 years. Just let go. You know how God says to me, said to me that time, I forgive you and you have to [00:59:00] forgive them.

That's it. Just because I love you. I say, how can I forgive them? So I actually forgive them. Not because what they've done or didn't do. I just forgive them because I'm so loved and that's how God forgive me. Just because I'm his child and he loves me so much that he just give me this free gift of salvation and forgiveness and love.

That's what I did for them. And I thought I was doing for them. You know what happened? I had so much peace. This burden of this hate and this unforgiveness and this, like anger just gone. Like, almost like I dropped these weights, you know? Like you go into the gym and do like, take like 20 or 50 pounders and you're walking around.

That's how heavy it was like, but that was my life. I was carrying this. I didn't even know that I was [01:00:00] carrying, but I got so used to it. I just, okay, it's pain and heavy. It's bothering me, but I don't know what it is and why it is here, but I'm doing it. And then God said, drop it. I'm like, well, they didn't apologize.

They didn't say that this is their fault. They didn't acknowledge anything. They don't do anything. He's like, just drop it. And they did. And honestly, it was such a, like, it was moment of awakening. I'm like, whoa, this is awesome. So now I have a space for compassion for them. And that's what allowed me to speak to my father and my mother, reconcile with my sister.

Now, like, with all this mess with the war, like, with supporting our family in Ukraine, and being, like, we've been all these 18 years, my husband, like, been the most generous, amazing man who actually have a fund in our budget for my family back home. You know, that's how amazing it is, and [01:01:00] we were able to actually support all of my family through Through all their life, not only with the war.

So honestly, somebody just recently asked me if God would give you opportunities to start your life from beginning and have a wonderful life and nothing ever gonna happen to you like, like this bad. You know what first happened in me? I kid you not. I got fear thinking. If that doesn't happen, I wouldn't be here where I am today.

I wouldn't trust my God 100%. I wouldn't know that I'm saved because You have to be saved from something to see that contrast. Like we David talk about being sick, you know, without being sick, you don't know how awesome and powerful your body is like to bounce back and thinking like, whoa, it's possible.

So that's [01:02:00] what happened to me too. And now this is my path and my passion. I'm teaching women how to make decisions faster and easier. I teach them how to get this clarity. How? Because of my life. And that's why I have so much intuition and I can see and feel and hear stuff. Why? Because I live like this for almost 20 years of my life.

I have to know almost what you're thinking because I have to protect myself. Are you gonna hurt me or something? Like, you know, so my brain does not work the same. It's so much more. Like intuitive and open. And I, like, I don't know, it's just so cool to see that in myself because it, it built in me and confidence and decision making and I'm thinking outside of the box and I see the world through the different eyes.

So, that's why God said to me, this is not the work you should be doing. I [01:03:00] didn't know that time where he leaded me, but I kid you not, I was building my empire and there was no anointing on it. I had a hair salon, I got, I've done, I got All my dreams come true and I'm so grateful that he did this for me because I would always think like, oh, maybe like if I build this alone, like, and, and so I would have like regrets, but because I got everything and I closed that business by myself, knowing that this is not the right place for me.

So I was building my empire and God says, now go build my kingdom. And now I work for him. I'm like, okay, God, I don't know what I'm doing, but just lead me. So he let me publish my book and I didn't speak English. And now I'm published author. I actually have my second book, the chapter that I published, and we're going to have an amazing book launch.

And it's stories of [01:04:00] survivors. And I share my, my Jesus story, which is, was amazing too. And then he led me for last two years, I'm going to a Christian leadership life coaching. And that was like an amazing, kind of, I don't know, a route that I would never choose for myself, and it's funny because I closed this salon when it's made money, when I was like super professional at what I do.

You know, after 16 years of doing something, you are a pro. So that's what every time I did hair, I'm like, Whoa, I'm amazing. Whoa, I make this money. Oh, I am. I am. I am. Glory to me. And, and now I'm like, oh, I don't know anything. I have nothing. But God goes like, okay, do this personality test. And I doing personality test and life coaching is number one for me.

And I'm like, okay, God, I guess you made [01:05:00] me for this work. And then I Google life skills and guess what? Hands on skills was not a life skills at all. It's the skills that I've learned. through my school, but the life skills, I have them all. I'm like, whoa, I guess I'm perfect for this job. And I kid you not, I have like two women that I was coaching pro bono.

I have such an amazing experience, like, like just like talking to you right now. It's work, but it's not work. I love it so much. And then I go turn off my computer and go take care of my family. And I hear Holy Spirit saying to me, Isn't this better? I'm like, yes, it's so much better because although the business was successful and make money, you know what it took?

It stole my time with my family. And I'm a primary caregiver and my kids still young and they need me. No matter how you think that they [01:06:00] independent, they are not. And they were struggling and I was not available. I was not available, not mentally, not physically, because I was wiped, because the business drained everything from me, and it was hands on business.

So, if people have chemicals on their hair, and your son get bullied in school, you cannot be there for your son. You have to finish your job, but guess what? You're not 100 percent behind the chair anymore, because your mind is on your son. So I felt like a failure. I wasn't serving no one, and I got super depressed.

It was so terrible, and that time actually trigger the another good stuff. You know how we were talking about good stuff from the bad stuff? Because that's when I start learning about mental health. That's how I was like clear enough in my head to see the [01:07:00] pattern and to know there is something more and I have to address it because it's not okay.

But this pattern was through all the time since like I, I stopped using drugs. By the way, I've been clean for 18 years and I needed to replace the drugs with something. So there was overeating, anger. Like, this still, like, physical something, you know, have to be replaced. So that's actually opened my mind to look for the therapist and coaching, and I'm still doing it, and I'm so grateful because God opens the doors, and that's what I want to tell you too, guys, when you're listening.

Do not apologize for the avenue that you're taking. As long as it's constructive, you know, the drugs wasn't a good way to deal with your problems because here we have like an amazing opportunity to [01:08:00] go to coaching and to therapy, but the heroin wasn't constructive. But if you have to go on medication to take care of your mental health, You have to take anything like what need for you at this morning moment, because I'm not against the medication.

I'm not against the health and wellness as well. If that's where you're going, you have to decide what you need at this moment. And that's what happened to me. I had to go and go to therapy and I never been diagnosed with the postpartum. And now I'm kind of sad because I, I bet last 10 years would be easier.

With my mental health, but right now I'm thinking, well, I'm very have a very addictive personality. Maybe it's for the best that I didn't get into that, but I don't know if you see, I have essential oils behind me. [01:09:00] And that's where I learned that it's very important to take care of your health before it happens.

So I'm really conscious about sleep, eat, exercise. I'm not perfect, but I kid you not, last time when I got really mad, upset, I'm thinking like, I could go for a walk instead of flipping out. I could roll my rowing machine. But before, I didn't even have those thoughts how I can replace these behaviors.

But more you're gonna learn about yourself, more you can find the constructive ways to deal with the problems. So, that's my story in a nutshell. I know, it's beautiful. A couple more things I want to tie up. Number one, ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't matter if you were the prostitute or if you were the proprietor, God loves you and forgives you.

Now, that doesn't give us an excuse to continue in bad [01:10:00] behavior and sin, however, our lives are journeys. And like you heard Lena, she, God saved her and he's been so faithful in her life and she's been victorious in so many things. Well now, she has years of knots to unwind. Hmm. This is a different part of her journey and hopefully we're there to help her.

After 20 years, guys. So don't think like, oh, she's like so awesome and so bubbly and look happy. 20 years, I'm like almost clean, like 1800 percent I'm clean. And two years was like bouncing in and out. And that's what there is. You seeing right now, like 20 years of healing and 14 years with Jesus. Okay, that's where you see me now.

And you know when it happened? Last fall, I said to my husband, like in somewhere October, like somewhere around that time, I said to him, whoa, I feel like myself. I know who I am. I know where I'm going. I know my [01:11:00] purpose, like my health, everything, almost like, whoa, it's not like I'm arrived. I'm finally got to this place zero, I guess, like, you know.

So, just take your time, and respect where you are, and know that there's hope. And you know, slowly but surely, I never thought I gonna end up here, but slowly but surely, I have trust and I hope in tomorrow, because tomorrow I know it's gonna be better. Yeah, and going to this, I want to tie up the most important thing is, God didn't save Lena from prostitution.

He didn't save Dave from X. He didn't save you from Y. He's saving us all, because when we die in this life, you can have a quote unquote good life or a quote unquote bad life. Most people have ups and downs and everything in between. But what we're being saved of is life's like a short interview. And when it's over, [01:12:00] you're either, you know, absent with the body, present with the Lord.

You're either with God in eternity and joy and peace and happiness, or you're going to burn in hell forever in the lake of fire. Not because God wants you to burn and suffer, but because He gives us this life to make the choice. To trust Him and to love Him back, or to reject Him. Satan is the one who causes all destruction, all the pain, all the torture.

But when Lena and I are talking about being saved, that's what we're being talking about. Being not only saved in this life So we have peace and joy during these horrible times, but ultimately when we die and we take our last breath on this earth and we're in eternity, man, we're going to be with God doing, just having awesome life for eternity instead of burning in hell where the worm doth not, where the fire is not quenched, where you should be tormented day and night forever and ever.

That's the salvation we're talking about. And there's no religion that's going to save you. It's your relationship with God. So, when Lena talks about how [01:13:00] the Holy Spirit pursued her and loved her and protected her, but there was a point where she had to make the conscious choice to trust God. Even now, even now, 14 years later, I have to choose what I hear from the enemy because now I know I have an enemy.

Now I know that being, like, telling myself that I'm worthless and hopeless and helpless and broken and alone and nobody loves you and all this stuff. Now I know that this is not only my thoughts. There's like in between pile up the nobody cares about you and especially like the the enemy knows me and he knows which button are pushed.

You know, now 16 years, like, I've been a wife and a mother, so he cannot go and hunt me there, because I know I'm solid in that. But look, my work serving God, it's new, so he comes there. You're not an author, you're [01:14:00] not write as well as other people write. Your English sucks because you have an accent.

Before, I thought, I'm doing this to myself. So, I would listen to that rather than hear God saying, Just trust me. I told you publish the book. Look at this book. It's now in my office. Every day I see it. I'm like, just trust me. That's God's faithfulness. I don't have to be a super author. I don't have to be anything to be loved.

I don't have to perform. I don't have to, I know my worth and value is in Christ. And no matter, past doesn't have hold on me. That's why I'm telling you this story honestly and openly because. It's just a story now. This does not have a hold on me, but God was working one problem at the time to get me into this place of peace with him and the past.

So that's why I'm telling you guys, you do have an enemy and you have a choice. And that's what God gave us free will to choose. And you're right, David, [01:15:00] I chose him because I realized, oh my goodness, somebody loves me. No matter, like, despite of, like, what I've done, but who I am, just Lena. Yeah, and the Bible says in Romans, there's all sorts of verses we can quote.

It's all over the Bible, but it says, For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's the gift from God, lest any man should boast. All that means is God loves you. He's gracious. He wants you to be saved. In the Bible, there's no complex formula. There's no take these three steps. There's no, you have to give, or you have to become a member of a church.

All it is is by faith. It, you know, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So if you call to God and say, God, I know you're real, please save me. You're the only one who can. He will. It doesn't say he may save you. It doesn't say he saved some people. He promises that he will save you.

And once you're his child, you're his child forever. But like Lena and I [01:16:00] can both attest to, as soon as you're his child and you're doing something worthy with your life, don't be deceived. Satan's gonna attack you. Cause he, Satan has two objectives. One, to keep you from trusting Christ, cause he wants to see you burn in hell with him for eternity in a lake of fire.

And two, if you do trust Christ, He wants to make you the biggest mockery and shame and waste your opportunity on this life so your eternity is wasted. Because again, He's a scumbag and misery loves company. So what Lena and I are telling you is trust Christ and follow Him. That doesn't mean every step's going to be easy.

That doesn't mean you're not going to be, you know, pursued by the evil one. But good news is, if the evil one's working on you, that probably means you're doing something right and worthwhile in your life, so keep going. Right, Lena? And another thing that I want to add real fast, it's sometimes, like, we have this misconception, like, oh, when you give your life to Christ, so now you have this omnipotent [01:17:00] God.

Working for you like a genie, that means you're gonna have no problem. Means like, every time you ask for something, he show up and just clear the way. I'm telling you, one thing that gonna happen, that, that he never refuse you, it's peace. He gonna give you that peace, but sometimes he gonna save you from your trouble.

Sometimes he gonna leave you in that trouble and give you strength. to do what you have to do because that's where we're growing and learning and, and out of our comfort zone. But the coolest part that he will never leave you, never forsake you, and never give up on you. So you're never going to be alone.

And this is his promise. But the interesting part, I've been thinking about these 14 years of my, Walk with God, you know, I'm so grateful that he didn't pile up everything in one time You know Like he he got this bag of human of like my traumas and my [01:18:00] past and all this mess He didn't give me to learn about it in one time I thank God because that probably would kill me if I have to work on everything but little by little and when I was A baby Christian, he didn't ask me to look into my past.

It's been five years he was healing me, and walking with me, and bringing me people, and teaching me how to learn the Bible, and teaching me about the verses, and teaching me about this stuff, and pouring that goodness in me. So it's always a process. So if you wake up tomorrow and you still have your trauma after you give your life to Christ, and you feel that nothing changed, it does.

It's just gonna be gradual change. Some of the stuff, like I prayed to quit smoking, and it happened like that. Three days passed, and I was like, Wait, what? I'm not smoking. It freaked me out. Because I try so hard by myself to quit. But some of this stuff, [01:19:00] like Pride, he just Call me out, like, two years ago, and I was, like, crying in therapy.

I was, like, bawling my eyes out saying, God, how come, like, like, I cannot be, like, prideful Christian. How come you didn't open to this to me before? And he said, you wasn't ready. So that's what gonna happen with your life. One thing for sure, like, honestly, knowing me right now and 14 years ago, I'm different person, but knowing me, Right now and 20 years ago, you would never imagine that I'm the same person.

I love people. I'm kind to people. I have compassion. I love them, not because they deserve or like have to do something for me, just because I love my God so much. And he said, go love me and go love people. So it's not the work for me. You know, I just live this life and that's why I want to take care of women.

I want to make people healthy and [01:20:00] beautiful and, and better because I know hell can start here, you know, so choose, choose life, choose life, choose God. And honestly, if you're in the end of the rope and you try everything and you're like, what is she talking about? Honestly, just Like, what would you have to lose, you know?

Yeah, and that's where we're getting at now. Between your birth and today, before we transition to how do ladies get a hold of you? How do men get a hold of you? How do they get your book? Is there anything we missed between your birth and today? That you want to share a cover before we transition to where you are and where you're headed next.

I don't know. I think like we're pretty, pretty good cover everything. All right. Then what do you think? Like, is there anything that you want to ask me? No, I mean, I have some personal questions, but I don't think there's value [01:21:00] because what matters is our relationship with God. What matters is how we view ourselves.

And this is about helping people see that no matter who they are, where they are in life. Man, God loves them and there's so much good in their life just waiting for them, and Satan's lying saying there's not, there can't be, you're worthless, and that's a lie, and I think this episode's clearly showed that.

So let's do this. I believe that you have a great ministry for humanity, but you're a woman and connecting with women is a lot more effective, safer, and what God's called you to do. You have a ministry to women. So whether people want to contact you or if it's a guy who wants to contact me or somebody else, what's the best way for people to reach you, Lena?

Yes, absolutely. You can email me at linacebula at gmail. com. L E N A C E B U L A at gmail. com. You [01:22:00] can go on my website and there actually you can see And the podcast and the organizations that I support and I'm talking and about human trafficking and about God. So you can pick up any information.

It's all free and you connect to them through my website or you can connect, you can connect to me and it's LinaSibula. ca. So L E N A. www. cbula. ca and all the information there and new events like I'm going to Tampa, Florida for the launch of the really cool book Voices of Survivors which is very interesting because I thought I'm done with the writing the book and this is my spiritual autobiography.

By the way, you can get that through my website as well. Or if you want me to have to sign your [01:23:00] copy, you can email me and ask me for that too. But honestly, I do believe. I can, like, anybody can relate with me. And I actually just talked to the gentleman not too long ago, and he was sharing his story with me.

So, honestly, guys, if you wanna just reach out and talk to me, and doesn't matter, like, I do have a coaching for women specifically, because I am I want to help women to to get through the difficult times and the, the crisis identity crisis because it happened to me over and over because like, oh, you're a prostitute, drug addict, alcoholic, and now you have to be like a mother, housewife and stuff.

And then afterwards I was like hair stylist and mother and housekeeper and now I have to be like a writer and podcast host and all that stuff. So I've been through those changes that I can help the women. To understand this better with our, like, hormones and [01:24:00] mindset and, and kids and all this stuff. But if you're a gentleman and you're thinking, like, oh my goodness, I have a story or I want to talk to you or I really want to connect with you, you guys open, like, I'm open and willing to talk to you.

And especially, like, if you want to know about God or anything, like, else that you want to ask me that I didn't cover here. Like, how did you feel when you were there? What happened here? So, I'm open and willing to tell you my story. So, honestly, I would be, yeah, grateful if you reach out and share and, and share this with others, you know, because maybe, like, you have relationship with Christ or you don't, but you think, like, oh my goodness, this person should hear this.

Please share my story with other people, share my books, share my story, because I want to help people. I want to help people to see that God's hand is not too short. [01:25:00] I want you to know that and help other people to know about that too. I don't care if it's gonna be my name, I want you to get that. I want to share.

God's Story of Salvation, because it's free gift for everyone, for you, for me, for David, for anyone here, and I want you to have it. Amen. Lena, you truly are a remarkable woman. And thank you for being here today. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. And thank you for letting me talk for all this time, because truly it's a pleasure to share God's story, to share my story, to encourage people.

And I hope and pray you guys got value out of here and think like if something stood out or story in your heart, please like, don't discard this, think about it and take action. Yeah, taking action. 100%. Commit that works in the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. The talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Means chalk's [01:26:00] cheap. Do it. But ladies and gentlemen, you, my friend, if you're here today, there's a purpose. If you're listening to this, there's a purpose. If somebody forwarded to this, there's a purpose. If you just found our podcast and you're looking for true crime, there's a purpose. Listen to what Lena said.

But more than anything, listen to what God says. He loves you. He loves you so much. He sent Jesus to die for you, send the Holy Spirit to comfort and live with us. And he gave us a beautiful eternity and it's ours for the taking. All we have to do is ask. If you have questions, reach out to Lena, reach out to myself.

I thank God he brought us together today. Lena, thank you for being here again. I thank God for my pillow and our sponsors that keep us on the air. So if you Need anything, please shop at our affiliates. Like MyPillow, you go to MyPillow, you get quality products. You use promo code Remarkable, you get up to 80 percent off everything.

So you're sponsoring yourself, you're sponsoring a great company, and you're saving a ton of money. [01:27:00] Keeping our show on the air. It's a win win win for everybody. So our pillow, my pillow, Formal Code Remarkable, everything on there up to 80 percent off, but the whole point of the show isn't to pimp goods.

It's to hopefully give you Jesus. So Lena, thank you again for being here today. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. If you have any questions, let us know, and I will see you in the next episode.