Things that should never be...

My mom recently wrote a poem about her experiences listening to stories of abuse, or as she put stories that should never be. She put into words my exact feelings when I hear about what has happened to the teens I work with (maybe someday she will share her poem with the world).

Those stories should not exist...but they do.

And it breaks my heart.

And it overwhelms me...sometimes to the point where I don't think anything will ever change.

I believe all the pain comes down to humans only focusing on what they want and not caring who it will impact or hurt in the process...and it has many forms.

What child or teen should have to deal with the fact that their parent got them hooked on drugs at a young age and now they will struggle with that addiction for the rest of their life?

What child or teen should have to deal with the fact that the only "love" they know was through being raped by a trusted family member over and over and have to deal with that abuse/trauma for the rest of their life?

What child or teen should have to deal with the fact that their parents cared more about pleasing themselves to where they left their children to fend for themselves and now they have to grow up in other peoples home and never feel wanted?

What child or teen should have to deal with being reminded, through physical and emotional scars placed there by people who were suppose to care and love them, of what they had to go through and have to deal with those scars for the rest of their lives?

Through the last eight years, I have heard multiple stories of the atrocious things adults have done to the teens I worked with...and it has continually broken my heart that there are people out there who would treat children so badly.

I have been asked and sometimes have even wondered about why God would allow these awful things to happen to innocent children. I can't say I really have a firm answer other then to understand that there is sin in this world and God has given all of us free will.

Yes, God could stop all of these evil things from happening, but He chooses not to most of the time.

Does that mean He doesn't love and care for us? No.

God allowed bad things to happen to Job, he lost his family and his home and his livelihood, but he still chose to see that God was there and would not turn away from Him.

I also know, that if I hadn't gone through the things I have gone through I would not be the person I am today with a heart and passion to reach those who are hurting.

Yes, there are time I wish I hadn't gone through abuse and such because I'm tired of dealing with the emotions and reminders, but at the same time I also know that I have grown and learn things through my experiences that I probably would not understand otherwise.

What I do know is that God is good.

We all will go through hard times, but it's how we choose to respond to the hard times that matters.

We can choose to let those experiences fuel our passions and make a difference in this world or we can choose to let those experience make us bitter.

It's obvious to me that there is a lot of hurt and pain in this world and I can only hope and pray that God will work through me to make even a little bit of difference.

Think of what He can do with 10 or 20 or 50 of us who are willing to take a stand against the sins of this world and try to make it a better place all through what God has done in us through our own experiences.

It is only because of His love, grace, mercy and forgiveness that I am who I am and can continue forward with my life.

And because of...

Hope.

That's why I continue doing what I do.

Because everyone deserves to have hope.