All of us face trials, yet few of us experience something as terrifying as what Holly K. Dunn did on the night of August 28, 1997.

Dunn and her then-boyfriend, Chris Maier, were the victims of unspeakable violence by Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, also known as The Railroad Killer, 20 years ago this week. The attack took place after the pair had left a college party and headed for railroad tracks near the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Maier didn’t make it out alive.

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Dunn, then a college junior, survived the brutal attack — the only known survivor of the perpetrator’s many other attacks. (He was the suspect, ultimately, in as many 30 deaths; he was tried and sentenced to death, and in 2006 died by lethal injection). Dunn, a Catholic, has since devoted her life to helping others heal from horrific trauma. She said much of her strength, then and now, has come from her faith.

“[Growing up], faith has always been part of my life,” Dunn told LifeZette. “At my core, I had my faith. During the attack, I actually prayed my last prayer. I was prepared for not surviving that event because I didn’t know if I would. I was actually praying during the attack. And after the attack, I kind of got a little angry at God and I had a moment of questioning my faith.”

Despite that initial anger with God, Dunn, who today is based in Evansville, Indiana, didn’t discuss her crisis of faith with anyone in the months that followed. She was ultimately asked to give a talk on faith to a retreat group. While preparing for the talk, she felt God opening her heart — and instantly understood He had been with her through the horrible event, and was still as well.

“When I was asked to give this talk on faith, I literally felt like God was saying to me, ‘This is the moment … You went through this horrible thing and I couldn’t stop it from happening, but I was with you through it all. I was beside you. I was there, I was protecting you, I was with you through it all,'” said Dunn.

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“When I realized God was with me, when I realized God was protecting me, that’s when I felt my faith strengthening. That’s when it started growing stronger and my anger was released. It became the way things should be in your life. There was a love, there was a happiness,” Dunn said.

In terms of another human being helping her in her life and strengthening her faith by example, Dunn said her father has been her rock.

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“I think the person who inspires me the most when it comes to faith is my father. My father has been through more in his life than anyone should have to go through. My brother passed away when I was in fifth grade in a car accident, and the way my dad showed my family through that tragedy was a reason for me to continue my faith, too,” she said.

Right after the attack, Dunn received support and prayers from so many people around her, even strangers.

“I was told in the hospital [during the five days she spent there immediately following the attack] by even the nurses that they had prayer chains going for me. I know I had people praying for me across the country and across the world,” Dunn said. “I really think that all these people praying for me was a powerful thing that then led to my faith being strengthened.”

What would she tell others who might be going through tough times — whether close to what she went through or not?

Dunn’s answer was simple.

Related: How I Told My Pastor Father I Was Going to Be a Teen Mom

“If you are just living your everyday life and you are happy, then you are healing,” she said, also mentioning that a healing journey comes with bumps in the road, ups and downs, and many different stages.

On this anniversary of such a tragic day in Dunn’s life, she says she tries to live her everyday life as best she can.

Here’s what God can do in our lives.

“As I remember the 20-year anniversary tragedy on that fateful day on August 28, 1997, it has been my mission and desire in my life to honor Chris’ memory and show victims there is hope and they are survivors,” Dunn said in a statement. “We all face bad circumstances, but you must trust your instincts and heed your attention toward those instincts. I have found after my tragedy there is life after the circumstance, you no longer are a victim, but you can overcome and be a survivor.”

Dunn, a wife, mom and inspirational speaker, has a book coming out in November titled “Sole Survivor: The Inspiring True Story of Coming Face to Face with the Infamous Railroad Killer.” Her inspirational journey based on faith and on giving to others is a vivid example of the strength of the human spirit — and what God can do in our lives.

(photo credit, homepage and article images: Holly K. Dunn)