Strength and Hope in Christ Rosbin’s Story

Written by our guest writer, Kate Motaung

Iclimbed into the car after playing in The Potter’s House Varsity soccer game against Wellspring in September of my sophomore year, and everything changed.

“I guess I should just tell you now,” my mom said. “I have lung cancer.”

I was shocked. None of us saw this news coming. My mom, dad, and I all cried together in the car as we tried to process this new reality.

While I haven’t really talked to a lot of people about my mom’s diagnosis, my soccer coach, Mr. Colago, was super supportive. At our end-of-season soccer banquet, Coach Colago made an announcement about my mom’s cancer and presented all of the players with matching shirts that had my mom’s name on the back, along with her favorite Bible verse:

“Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece.” – Filipenses 4:13

In English, the verse is “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

When I told my mom about the shirts, she cried. Even though I don’t talk about it much, we have been very thankful for the love and support we’ve received from The Potter’s House community.

For the first few days after my mom got the diagnosis, I thought about people I knew who had cancer and got mad at God. Then I realized that even though it’s not what we wanted, God is probably allowing this to happen for a reason and it’s not up to me to decide what happens. Besides, I can’t do anything about it— only Jesus can.

I’ve been a student at The Potter’s House since preschool. At the time, I only spoke Spanish. My preschool teachers, Ms. Lugo and Ms. Murray, helped me a lot during that period. They explained to my parents that they could let me go on to the next grade, or they could keep me in preschool for an extra year to help me get better at English and have a better chance at succeeding in the future.

My parents decided to let them help me with English. Even though I don’t always like being a year older than my current classmates, I can see why my parents made that decision and I’m thankful that my teachers cared about me enough to make that suggestion.

One significant memory that stands out for me happened when I was in 4th grade. My teacher (then Miss Cantrell, now Mrs. Hoffman) was leading a worship lesson and asked us to write down as many things as we could about God during a certain period of time. When the time was up, I looked at my paper and my mind was blown by how much I had written down about God. I can’t really compare my experience with anything else because I’ve only ever attended The Potter’s House, but I’m thankful that God has used the staff at my school to teach me more about Himself.

As I finish out my sophomore year and realize I only have two years left in high school, I’m grateful for the many lessons I will be able to take with me after graduation. The Potter’s House has taught me to stay on point. I try to always do my homework, and if I can’t do it for some reason, I make sure to email my teacher to let them know. My teachers have helped me stay on top of my work and have also taught me the importance of being respectful—two skills that I know will be useful to me throughout my life.

One piece of advice I’d like to share is this: When you get mad, try not to let your anger define the moment. If you get mad at someone, remember that they might not be here tomorrow. If that happened, I wouldn’t want that to be my last interaction with someone, so I try to let things go quickly, repair relationships, and not hold on to my anger.

As I continue to live with the reality of my mom’s diagnosis, I’m often reminded that only God knows what tomorrow holds. With this in mind, I’m asking Him to help me give it my all during the time I have left at The Potter’s House . . . oh, and I wouldn’t mind getting my name added to that soccer plaque in the hallway.