Growing up on a farmland in a small community where everyone knew each other and shared generously with one another never prepared me for the harsh realities of life in the big wide world. Twenty years ago when I ventured out on my own and found myself pregnant and alone in a foreign country, then homeless with a one-month-old infant who was diagnosed with Down syndrome and a heart disease at birth, I was suddenly plunged into a world I knew nothing about.

I very quickly learned to trust God to supply my every need. He was my only hope and my only source of comfort during my pregnancy.  Even though I bonded with the new life I carried inside my womb right from the start, I was very afraid for her as well as for myself because the circumstances surrounding my pregnancy were not pretty.  I lived in constant fear and shed buckets of tears throughout much of my pregnancy.  Being in such dire situations forced me to seek God for help to go through each difficulty, and every time He met a need, I grew a little stronger in faith.  When I lost my apartment and had nowhere else to turn, Jesus led me to find shelter in a Good Counsel home for homeless pregnant and parenting mothers.

My experiences with homelessness and pregnancy have taught me true humility, have opened my eyes to the poor and needy in society, and moved me to reach out to as many as possible from a heart of love and compassion. Having been in a similar situation, I am able to connect with them on a deeper level and to show them empathy.  Now I see each of them as God sees them – unique, precious and dearly beloved!

I have also grown a whole lot stronger spiritually, mentally and emotionally and have developed a deep passion to reach the lost for Christ and to minister to those in need. A year ago when I sat at my computer in the early hours of the morning and wrote my story, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.  It was very painful!  It took me several mornings to write my story and countless times after that to go back and edit it, and I cried every time!  Several times I questioned myself as to whether I really wanted to include this particular time in my life and many times came very close to eliminating it.  The one thing that prevented me from doing so was this small voice inside of me telling me that I needed to do this plus, I remember a much stronger inner voice only a few months earlier telling me that He needs me to give of myself to help the poor, the needy, and the hungry.

I am so glad I listened to this voice because now that I have shared this very intimate and painful part of my life, I realize that I have been healed of the deep wound that I carried in my heart for all those years! I was never bitter or angry about what I went through.  I was deeply hurt and terribly afraid!  The love of God, however, is stronger than our deepest wounds or our greatest fears and powerful enough to heal all our broken hearts and damaged emotions, erase all our fears, and restore our self-esteem.