I’m blessed by the people I get to meet who reach out to me through the various outlets of social media. My guest today, Lynnann Muse, contacted me through Linked In and once I heard her story I knew she needed to be a guest on Just Show Up because God has shown up in her life and brought great purpose through her suffering.
One mutual thread we have is Lynnann’s involvement with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). My mother began the CASA chapter in Galveston County over 20+ years ago and has been one of their longest term employees and volunteers. When Neal and I got married in lieu of favors for the guests we made a donation to CASA. The work CASA does to help place children in a safe environment is worthy of praise.
It is my pleasure and honor to share Lynnann’s story with you today. Please pray for her and take a look at her book as well.
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Ernest Hemingway , who according to literary legend , was once challenged to write a story in only 6 words. Hemingway’s six- word story read. ” For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
I was one of five children abandoned by my parent’s. Their choices had put me in danger, then condemned me to a life of pain and loneliness. Never to experience the purest form of earthy essence, ‘A Mother’s Love’. I had been forsaken.
By the age of seven I had been abused, neglected, and abandoned. Delivered to a orphange in Bangor Maine called the Bangor Female Orphan’s Asylum with my Sissy. In this orphanage I suffered harsh punishment with indescribable loneliness. Tortured by memories of my lost siblings, parents, and grandparents. Constantly asking the question’s “What did I do? Why am I here? Why didn’t anyone want me?”
Two year’s later I left the orphanage with Sissy. I was nine. We had been placed with a Christian foster family in Hampden Maine on a beautiful street called Carver Road. My foster family was a secure place, rigid with little affection. I struggled to fit in. Never finding my place. I had been molested by a school staff member. My feelings of ever being safe had diminished. The fear of being sent back to the orphanage kept me imprisoned. I began to accept that I was unwanted, unworthy, and bad.
By the age of 16 I ran away to California. I was pregnant and married by the age of 17. I entered into a series of controlling marriages where I mistook being wanted for love. It was during this time that the brokenness of my childhood began to resurface. Betrayal, loneliness, abandonment and failure had found me once again. My life was overshadowed by impending doom. I no longer wanted to fight. I wanted to die. I was broken. Not defeated.
With the love of my two beautiful children God met me right where I was. I dedicated my life to him. For that God promised never to leave me. God’s healing and restoration had begun in my life. “I will heal your broken heart and mend all your wounds.” Psalms 147:3.
I believed that. I also understood that “forgiveness ” was going to be necessary for my healing. I first had to forgive the little girl inside of me. I traveled back to a place called the Bangor Female Orphan’s Asylum to face my demons and call them out. To conquer and rescue a little i
mprisoned orphan girl. Empowered with the love of God I found purpose. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. ” Ephesians 2:10. With this promise I was able to see how God purposefully special people in my life who helped me overcome the suffering I endured…
Even in the most painful of situations we have a choice we can decide now to take our past, learn what we can from them, take the pain and began our healing, then apply purpose to that pain and use it to help others. Even the deepest pain can begin to make beautiful sense. This is what has inspired me to write my story. A Forest of Doors ” An Orphan’s Quest ” It is my highest honor and privilege to be the child of a Living God. To proclaim that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. It is my honor to be Jamie and Paul’s Mother for without them I would have never known unconditional love. It is now my honor to share my story of loss, love, spirituality, coping and redemption with you.
I devote much of my time as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children. It is my privilege to represent children that have been thrown into the child welfare system by the actions of their parents. I share with them God’s love and that they are never alone. I am their voice.
In the United States we have over 400 thousand children that have been removed from their homes and placed into the child welfare system. This is a growing crisis in OUR NATION. The number of children being removed from their homes are rising due to the increase of poverty and addiction in the United States. My hope and prayer is that through my story a new awareness with a sense of urgency, a call to action will be heard. OUR NATION needs more foster homes, adoptions, mentors and advocates.
I took the same challenge as Hemingway. My six word story.
I rescued an orphan girl, ‘myself ‘.
Lynnann Muse ~
L. A. Muse devotes much of her time as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate for children. Her life and presence is representative of the best hopes of children thrown into the child welfare system by the actions of their parents. L. A. Muse continues her quest in her next work, Carver Road. As the mystery of her lost family unfolds, she explores the depths of her past and how her life continues to be shaped. She currently lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.
You can order her book on line on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
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What a beautiful testament to how God brings a greater good from our sufferings.
Please leave a message of encouragement for Lynnann for sharing her story. If YOU have a story to share, you do not need to be an author or professional. YOUR STORY MATTERS and it can help someone else know they are not alone. Email me at hopefulhearts333@gmail.com and I’d love to feature you on Just Show Up.
Blessings
Shannon