Lisa Radcliff is gifted with teaching the Bible and sharing difficult stories with a touch of humor. For over 30 years, Lisa has been sharing her story of overcoming sexual abuse and helping women find freedom in Jesus. She also walks alongside women in support groups or one-on-one as a board-certified mental health coach.

Lisa is a speaker and award-winning author of three books, including a brand new Bible study on God’s heart for the sexually harmed. Her books have been praised as gifts to the church. Lisa’s passion is for anyone with an ugly past to find the joy, peace, and hope that Jesus offers every believer.

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Lisa.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am in Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

I'd love to learn how you came to meet Jesus.

I grew up in a church, but I didn't know Jesus.

I thought I did because I was doing all the things.

But then our youth pastor was killed in a car accident right in front of the church.

And I was very angry at God about that.

I thought, why would you do that?

He had so much to give and so much more to do.

But then I realized he was living his life for Jesus.

So really, what more could he have done?

And it hit me that I was not doing that, even though I knew all the things.

So that was when I turned my life over to Jesus.

I was 16 years old, and I've been walking with him ever since.

That must have rocked the church population though, having that experience.

How old was he?

He was 21.

Wow.

Yes, it did.

It rocked the church.

What was the environment like coming out of that?

Did someone step into being youth pastor immediately?

Younger couples who stepped up and did that for a couple of years, when they had their first children, which it was two couples, and they both ended up having children at the same time, they stepped down.

And as a matter of fact, at that point, my future husband and I stepped up and became the youth leaders.

How long have you been married?

Just about 41 years.

How do you tell the story of something that is so traumatic and something that is so heart wrenching, and then bring it to an energy or bring it to the place where, for example, you're telling me about the power of love after 40 years of marriage?

I never ever planned to tell this story to anyone.

It was going to remain a secret, and I was going to live with that.

But the man who abused me was arrested about 10 years after my abuse stopped.

And I went to the police and told them he had abused me decades before that, and they wanted to talk to me about that.

And by the time I talked to them two weeks later, dozens of women had come forward, but they could only use two of us in court because the other women's lives were so messed up.

I was one of those two women.

And I realized at that point that that's the story God was going to use in my life, even though I never wanted to tell it.

And I argued with him pretty fiercely for a little while that there were other things he could use, not that.

But that's what he chose to use.

I asked him to just give me the grace to be able to share that.

And that was about 36 years ago.

For the person that's listening who is seeing exactly what you're saying back then, which is, God, please, any other thing, use it, accept that.

But they're hearing that they need to tell the story.

What would you say to them?

I believe that God puts hard things in our lives or allows hard things in our lives as something he has entrusted to us to use to encourage others and to glorify him.

I think that he will give you the grace and the strength to share those stories with other people.

It may not be on large stages like I do, but even if it's just one-on-one with somebody else who's going through it, the verses that spoke to me that first day when I realized that's what he was going to use was 2 Corinthians 1, where he talks about using what we've experienced to comfort someone else because he's comforted us.

And that's what I tell people.

You may come across just one or two other people who've experienced whatever it is that you've experienced or something similar, and you can comfort them because you've received comfort.

And that's the point.

And I think going through times of suffering is what makes us more like Jesus.

So it is something that you can eventually be thankful for.

There's a picture that comes to mind, and it's the animal that has a thorn in its side, and it's not able to remove it and not able to say, I have a thorn in my side.

That's what I see this as being.

But us as humans having the ability to speak, of course, to ourselves and of course to God, and then thirdly, others, and then have this removed or even acknowledged.

Does it sound accurate in terms of the imagery I'm painting here?

Yeah, that's a really good image.

I hadn't heard that one before.

But that is a really good image because you need to be walking with someone.

I did a lot of healing on my own with God, and that was it.

But it was so long ago, I didn't know who to turn to.

I didn't know if there was someone to turn to.

And I think that's part of my motivation now with walking alongside other survivors and helping them to that place of healing, because I didn't have that.

And it took so long.

And I can see women getting to where I am a whole lot faster than I did.

That's good.

So that's exciting.

Yeah, that's good.

That's a good thing.

So before we leave, though, at least one of the grooming concerns.

You have 10 steps, you said, that you lay out that shows that someone's probably grooming your child.

What's one of them?

Well, the 10 steps are different, but they're one of the steps is grooming and understanding that so it's kind of its own thing.

So one of the steps for grooming would be someone who gives child gives their children gifts and has them keeping secrets and seems to want to spend alone time with them.

Lisa, you're an absolutely amazing woman for the decision that you've taken.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

You've said that you've followed Christ, you followed God's leading on this.

And as a result, I love the concept of what has been opened, because you're opening doors for other people to be healed.

Five years from today, though, you're listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future Lisa?

I would say it was all worthwhile.

All right, well, this has been fun.

Amazing audience, of course, links in the show notes.

Of course, there's more that you can connect with her for she spoke about the three books and of course, her speaking, booking opportunities and closing.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I don't think so.

Just that this is something that needs to be talked about more, especially in churches and among Christians.

And don't be afraid, find someone that you can trust and tell them your story.

Lisa, again, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by 12 Minute Converse.