“My husband’s daughter had a massive stroke when she was 34. She led a bad life and that is one of the reasons she had a stroke. She had four kids who were messed up children and I inherited them overnight, a 15-month-old baby, a 5-year-old little boy, and 11 and 12-year-old girls. I was retired, we were on a fixed income, and the kids came to me with nothing. No furniture, no clothes, no crib. Their mother would never let us help her. I had to get DHR involved and start over with everything. In the midst of this my wonderful mother, who lived next door to us, had surgery and bled to death and my father-in-law died. All of this was in six weeks. I lost my mother. I lost my lifestyle. I lost everything. My husband was an alcoholic and started drinking again, so I was with four kids, a drunk husband and dead mother. Then my husband died. The boys went back to the mother but the girls stayed with me so I was a single grandmother raising teenage girls. I had just started working a new job three weeks before my husband passed away and that was a blessing because financially I would have been a mess. It was a difficult time. I wanted off the hamster wheel, but instead I dug in and prayed for the strength to do what I was supposed to do. I have a precious daughter who is 32. I am still raising the granddaughters. One had a problem and got arrested when she was a teenager. I was distraught and told her I didn’t think I had done her any good. She said, ‘Grandma, think of where I would be if you hadn’t been in my life. I think I would be dead if it hadn’t been for you.'”
“I learned what I am capable of doing through God and that I have strength that I didn’t know I had. I did impossible things with him on my side. There were so many Veggietale moments and lessons that God threw into my day. I learned about surviving in bleak times and still being filled with joy and hope. I am a nurse at a Women’s Care Medical Center. It is a pro-life ministry and in my job, I deal with a lot of social issues and people in crisis. I have been there and understand. God brings people into my life all of the time who need help.”

“I led a charmed life with a mother and father so dear that they gave me a beautiful life. The women I serve didn’t have that charmed childhood. They had fathers who sexually molested them of their whole life was an upheaval where no one spoke kindly to them. You can’t look into their faces and feel no sympathy. No one has taught them what love is and that they can rise out of their situation. How can I judge a person like that? I have a privileged life but it wasn’t perfect. None of us are perfect. I try to show them they are loved.  I am in the winter of my life and I want to do all that God wants me to do. I am called to serve.