THE POWER OF LOVE Monday, March 7
Psalm 136:2: O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. All throughout my life, I have seen many instances where love has impacted not only my life but the lives of others around me. I would like to share how these experiences have changed my life for the better and inspired me to be the person that I dream to become. I will be honest, growing up for me was a never-ending test of my own character at an age where I didn’t know what having character truly meant. It was a never-ending battle of adversity and pain that was healed by precious moments, where I saw love and its positive impact that even myself could do better within my given circumstances. When I was 10 years old, my mother passed away from a drug overdose. After our mother passed away in 2013 my two older half-brothers were already living in Denver, starting their lives. My twin sisters and I were left in the hands of my stepfather, my younger sisters’ biological father. In short, we experienced the negative impacts of living with someone with a lifelong drug addiction who had lost respect for himself and was selfish in the sense of getting what he wanted, even if that meant hurting my sisters and I emotionally and physically. One could say the complete opposite of love and its attributes. A normal meal back when my sisters and I were surviving day by day consisted of moldy food or anything we could get our hands on. Money was really scarce after our mother passed away and my stepfather’s never-ending addiction was always the first priority. My sisters and I became numb to the way we were living and accepted that this life was normal. My stepfather’s relationship to drugs got so bad that we were kicked out of our own bedrooms so that his business associates could have them. My sisters and I slept on the floors of a broken down living room with little to no food, and often without running water and sometimes electricity. All the while, we continued going to school and putting on a fake smile, acting like everything was normal. We got so used to living abnormally that it became normal to us. The point of this story is really about what happened next, which changed our lives forever. Our situation with our stepfather finally got to the point where I couldn’t bear to see my family in pain anymore. With the help of my brothers in Denver, we were rescued and blessed with a new opportunity. In 2017, we were placed into foster care with a beautiful, kind, loving family. They took us in without hesitation and taught us how to take care of ourselves. Furthermore, they gave us a foundation to build upon. This act of love and generosity gave me hope out of the worst moments in my life. I learned that I could grow and learn as a person by loving others and that I could do good for others in need by loving them. This was a life-changing understanding when I realized how powerful love can be. For this, I will always be appreciative of my foster family.
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I was further reminded of this love and support by my Aunt Anne and Uncle John, as well as my cousins, Stephanie and Stacy. When we were first taken into child protective services, my Aunt and Uncle immediately filed for guardianship of us and stayed in close contact for the year we were in foster care, while we went through the legal process of being allowed to come and live with them permanently. They are the caregivers and amazing role models I never had in my life. Their love is something that drives me everyday to help others and show love to other people because without the love they showed me, I would not be where I am today. Neither would my sisters.
