During an in depth interview with Today Janay Rice and her mother sat down with Matt Lauer to discuss her physical altercation with her husband Ray Rice and the backlash they received. She maintained that her being punched out by her husband in an Atlantic City elevator was part of "God's" plan to raise awareness for domestic violence.

The public display of domestic violence made headlines throughout the country and Rice was then dropped from the NFL, but has since been recently reinstated and is looking for a team. A very emotional Janay spoke in depth to Lauer about the incident, the after effects, and where they are now.

"I feel like God chose me and Ray for a reason, and it was definitely to bring awareness to what people are going through every day," she said, assuring Lauer that it was the only incident of domestic violence they experienced, "You know, it's not what I am going through every day, but you know it's definitely brought this topic to the forefront ... and we are ok with that."

Later on in the segment Lauer caught up with Rice himself and he echoed the importance of the altercation has played in the national message of domestic violence. "Now I realize that the amount of people we've affected, the amount of families we've affected, that, you know, domestic violence is a real issue in society," he said, "We could take our one bad night, it just happened to be on video, but we are truly sorry to the people that are really going through it. You know, it's a real problem. And I know when the time is right, I know my wife wants to help, I know I want to help."

Her new Christian walk could have prompted Janay's mention of God and accepted that her experience is a "silver lining" to a bigger message against abuse. According to the NY Post, the former Baltimore Ravens RB and his wife were baptized after the shocking elevator incident.

TMZ also reported that after the incident, the couple rededicated their lives to God by attending spiritual counseling with other couples who were having difficulties.

Watch the video below of Janay telling Lauer that she and her husband were "chosen" to raise awareness.