I grew up in a wonderful, tight-knit Christian family, full of love and laughter and quirks. But unfortunately that did not completely remove us from the realm of struggles and difficult experiences.  When I was four years-old, my older sister was diagnosed with a degenerative terminal illness that, at the time, was very rare and had little information known about it. She was diagnosed just prior to the birth of my younger sister, and the timing of that was perhaps one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Due to the severity of the onset of my older sister’s illness, my parents were somewhat removed from the parenting scene for a number of years. It fell to me to undertake the care, discipline, and general well-being of my baby sister.  At a very young age I became an adult, in a sense, and quickly learned what it meant to take on a great deal of responsibility and balance those responsibilities with looking after my own needs.  That experience, among others in my life, have taught me how to handle responsibility, how to adapt to and handle difficult situations, and how to care for those who have a hard time caring for themselves.  The Lord has worked wonders in my life through this aspect. I would not be who I am today were it not for the obstacles that I’ve faced and the lessons I’ve learned through his infinite wisdom.

When I was in middle school, my parents made the decision to become licensed foster parents and specifically take in children who were medically fragile in a variety of ways. They decided to do this because of their extensive medical experience with my older sister over the span of many years. We have had twenty-nine children come through our home, of all ages, backgrounds, races, and circumstances. This experience has been most rewarding, pushing me to once again learn the meaning of responsibility and expanding my knowledge on a wide range of issues and topics.  Through these children I have learned about judicial proceedings, endocrinology, forms of therapy, various emotional and psychological disorders, infant neurosurgery and more. But more than that, I’ve learned about the broken world we live in, and what a huge responsibility Christians have to show others the love of Christ through a godly example.

We are given so many charges and so much direction in the Bible, yet for some reason we still demand that everything center on our personal wants and desires and struggles.  Something that I’ve has been brought to my attention recently is that we’re missing one of the main points: It’s not about us! Everything we do should be about glorifying the One who gives us life, and He asks that we throw off our selfish desires and care for the hurting and broken and lost people around us.

So what has God done in my life?  I can’t tell you that; it is an everyday, ongoing process. I can’t give you a list of things from least to greatest significance that He’s taught me. He’s molding me to be the person that he desires, and I’m trying my best to be moldable. The past has educated me, the present is teaching me, and I can only hope that the future will be just as enlightening.