Homeless Teen Makes Her Mess Her Message

Victims feed their pain. Victors feed their power.

Katy Hughes and her mother Elizabeth have been living out of a car after being evicted from their apartment. In an effort to shed light on the harsh reality of homelessness, Katy started chronicling her experiences online. An aspiring writer, the 16-year-old created a blog called "Destination Anywhere But Here."

I have a saying: victims feed their pain, victors feed their power. In a time when so many people compete for victimhood, it's (somewhat) refreshing to see a young lady who has chosen to make her mess her message. This young lady is willing to risk being shunned and shamed in an effort to shed light on another one of America's dirty little secrets: homelessness. How many of us are willing to do the same?

We all have the power to choose to be pitiful or powerful. We can allow the less than pleasant situations in our lives to make us bitter or better. We can bury our heads in shame or walk upright in hopes of helping someone else.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, so we must not fear what others will think of us if we tell our testimony. And when we tell it, we need to give the raw, undiluted, unpolluted, unadulterated version.

Dr. Maya Angelou has taken drugs and written about it. She was a madam for lesbian prostitutes. She was a teenage mom. And she tried prostitution. When asked why she chose to write about those things, she replied:

I mean if you happen to fall into the gutter, see where you are and admit it. As soon as you admit it you can be like the prodigal son, the prodigal daughter: get up and go to a safe place. Get up and go to someplace where your spirit is not kicked and brutalized, and your body misused and abused. Get up! But you can't get up unless you see where you are and admit it.

I wrote about my experiences because I thought too many people tell young folks, "I never did anything wrong. Who, Moi? Never I! I have no skeletons in my closet! In fact I have no closet!" They lie like that, and then young people find themselves in situations and they think, "Damn, I must be a pretty bad guy. You know, my mom or dad never did anything wrong, so I'm pretty bad," and they can't forgive themselves and go on with their lives.

Dr. Angelou also said that if she doesn't tell the truth, she hasn't helped anybody. In my continued effort to take the brakes off God and allow Him to use me, I pray that I can continue to be real, even when it's unpleasant.

I'm Lisa Maria Carroll, reminding you to take the brakes off God and watch Him do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think.