Part 2 — From War to America: My Journey of Escape, Transition, and God’s Divine Positioning

By Delphine Collins

Leaving Liberia was not just a relocation.

It was a deliverance, a crossing over, a divine repositioning orchestrated by God after years of surviving war, displacement, hunger, and fear.

My journey from Liberia to America is a story of transition — from chaos to stability, from trauma to healing, from survival to purpose.

When the War Wouldn’t Let Us Rest

After surviving the waves of conflict from 1989 to 1996, including months of displacement at the Greystone compound, my family and I were exhausted. Liberia was our home, our identity, our roots — but the war kept returning like a storm that refused to pass.

My parents made the hardest decision any parent could make: to leave everything familiar behind in search of safety for their children.

We didn’t leave because we wanted to.

We left because staying meant risking our lives.

The Journey Out: Fear, Faith, and Uncertainty

Leaving Liberia was not simple.

It was a journey filled with:

• Uncertainty — not knowing what waited on the other side

• Fear — wondering if we would make it out safely

• Sacrifice — leaving family, culture, and everything we knew

• Faith — trusting that God was leading us into a new chapter

I remember the day we left.

The air felt heavy.

The streets felt unfamiliar.

The future felt unknown.

But deep inside, I sensed God whispering:

“I am with you.”

Arriving in America — A New World, A New Battle

When we arrived in the United States, the war was behind us — but the healing had just begun.

America was:

• Bigger than anything I had ever seen

• Faster than anything I had ever experienced

• Different from everything I had ever known

The transition was not easy.

We had to learn new systems, new culture, new expectations.

We had to rebuild from nothing.

We had to adjust to a world that did not understand what we had survived.

But even in the challenges, God was planting us.

He was giving us stability, opportunity, and a future.

Healing From Trauma — The Silent War

The physical war ended when we left Liberia.

But the emotional war continued inside us.

I carried:

• Memories of running

• Sounds of gunfire

• Images of fear

• The weight of displacement

• The ache of loss

Healing did not happen overnight.

It happened through:

• Prayer

• Time

• Community

• Faith

• God’s gentle restoration

I learned that God does not waste pain.

He transforms it into purpose.

Finding My Voice, My Calling, and My Identity

As I grew older in America, I began to understand why God preserved me.

Why He preserved my parents.

Why He preserved my siblings.

Why He brought us through the fire and into a new land.

My calling began to unfold:

• Ministry

• Leadership

• Intercession

• Teaching

• Healing

• Prophetic purpose

Everything I survived became the foundation of who I am today.

My ministry — Grace Hope Love Prays Ministry — is not just a name.

It is the story of my life:

• Grace carried me out of war

• Hope sustained me through transition

• Love held my family together

• Prayer became my lifeline

Becoming the Woman God Intended

Today, I stand as:

• A Liberian-rooted survivor

• A woman of faith

• A mother

• A leader

• A builder

• A voice for healing

• A testimony of God’s mercy

I am no longer the girl sleeping in tents at Greystone.

I am no longer the child running from gunfire.

I am no longer the displaced refugee searching for safety.

I am a woman called, chosen, and positioned by God.

My life is proof that: “Where you start is not where God will leave you. He brings His children out to bring them in.”