When people meet me, they cannot imagine the past I left behind. Some accept me; others reject me as if my past is a tattoo that has marked my life forever. Fortunately, God has never rejected me.

I arrived in the United States from Puerto Rico at the age of 31. I had many dreams. They were cancelled by God, who had a better plan (Jeremiah 29:11). I became a professional and prosperous woman. But inside, I was alone, dry, and empty, desperate for a new way of life. I was divorced three times with two children from different men. I suffered much loneliness and sorrow in this strange new country, raising my children alone. In 2011, I met Fred, who invited me to attend his Christian church. I accepted his invitation, bought a Bible and a decent suit, and showed up the next Sunday. This church was full of people who spoke another language and whose skin tones were different from mine. Even so, I felt comfortable there.

In a matter of months, everything changed for me. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and began to study the Bible. Through His Word, God taught me a new way of living. He also gave me a Christian husband in Fred. We have now been happily married for six years.

In 2015, the Lord showed me that He could use my painful past of divorce to help others who are living in the same isolated situation. John 4 tells an interesting story about a woman from Samaria who had a personal encounter with Jesus at a well.

This woman had had five husbands, and she was living with a sixth man out of wedlock. Jesus, against the custom of His people, spoke with her and revealed Himself as the Messiah. He was the living water, the One who could save her from her empty life. She believed Him, left her water jar by the well, and ran to tell the townspeople. Many accepted Him as their Savior.

Through this woman’s story, God showed me that He could use me to share the good news of Jesus too. He can use anyone’s complicated past for His glory.

Psalm 40:1–3 accurately describes the rescue God performed in my life when I was 40.

With patience I waited for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair…. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.

God has been so good to me. Like He did for that woman at the well, He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue me from my empty way of life. He gave me His Word, the living water, and it quenched my thirsty soul.

Maybe you are thirsty. Maybe you need stability and a new way of life. True change comes only through a relationship with Jesus and knowledge of His Word. The Bible, if applied to your life, will change you from the inside out, even if your circumstances never change. It is your lifeline to hope and the catalyst for change.

You’ll find good advice, solid promises, and consolation in the midst of pain. God’s Word has been a source of strength to me, and to the thousands of single moms and divorced and widowed women that I now minister to in 65 countries through my ministry, Samaritana del Pozo (Samaritan Woman at the Well).

If you have found yourself alone, rejected, and living an empty life, you need to know that it is never too late for God to straighten bad roads. He is the giver of many opportunities. He wants no one to perish but all to have eternal and abundant life in Him (2 Peter 3:9; John 10:10). God glorifies Himself by rescuing, using, and prospering people with complicated pasts. And He is ready to glorify Himself through you.