'Is there any hope for me?'

Photo from leahdarrow.com

I had a conversation with one of my friends a few weeks ago, and we got to talking about a friend of hers who "lost herself" in a culture of modelling and everything that went with it. One of the things my friend said reminded me of Leah Darrow, who used to be a contestant in America's Next Top Model.

My friend said, how could she (referring to her friend) go back to what it was before if she already gave everything away? And my answer was, look at Leah Darrow.

What Leah says in that video is striking. She says she had a vision that she was at the end of her life, facing God, and offering up to Him the last thing she had ever done--which was posing for a photoshoot wearing something she was ashamed of. Because of it, Leah walked out of the shoot, and out of the modelling world.

This is what a lot of people easily forget: that they can correct the missteps they've made by finding it in themselves to want to change. The most effective first step to a change of heart and a change of lifestyle is to go to confession and talk to a priest. (Don't worry, there's no sin so new that a priest hasn't heard before... and besides, he speaks for God, who loves you!)

It's not about your past (no matter how bad it was)--it's about what you're doing now and to Whom your heart really belongs now. If that weren't true, then there wouldn't be great people like St. Paul or St. Peter. So, in answer to the question heading this post:

Yes, there is always hope as long as the person is willing to make that change, and to make it a change for good.


"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."-Oscar Wilde