My body is letting me know it’s time for vacation. You might not think this is anything big but when you type for a living it is…my right index finger is swollen and when I touch the joints they explode in pain. I haven’t jammed it or shut it in a door. This has happened a few other times when I’m overly preoccupied with too many things on a ‘list’ (or in other words, s t r e s s e d). It’s a taste of what a full blown flare up of RA can feel like and I know to slow down.
That’s what makes it funny, really, that it is the index finger…when you type (the correct way) you use the index finger quite often. I’m sure you get the picture. 😉 But I couldn’t leave town for my vacation without sharing a meeting I had with the most amazing young woman.
Her name is Nicole, she is 18, and graduated from high school this past weekend. She graduated after enrolling herself in school after landing from family member to family member and eventually in a women’s shelter. I won’t go into detail but she has survived physical abuse, abandonment, rape at a young age by a family member, and upon being bounced around from home to home she was verbally and emotionally abused until one day she said, “I had enough. I knew I was worth more than what was going on.”
The day she turned 18 she moved out of the abusive home she was in and sought refuge in the shelter. God strategically began placing people in her life from this moment forward and she found a friend to get her from the shelter and live with for a while, but this meant changing schools in her senior year. That didn’t deter her. She said she kept telling herself, “I just need to move forward.”
Other obstacles were thrown her way during the last four months of her senior year but with each blow she brushed it off and kept living to her mantra, “Move forward.” Only six weeks away from graduating she found herself homeless again but by the grace of God had a friend who lived over an hour from where she was attending school who was willing to let her live with him and drive her to and from school every day so she could finish. This is when my friend Lori met Nicole.
She was standing in the dark by the high school waiting on her ride because often she would have to wait for him to get off of work before he could drive down to pick her up. Sometimes she sat outside of the school till 8 or 9pm. Other times she’d find work to do for her teachers, cleaning houses, etc until he was able to get her. Lori, a modern-day saint, couldn’t stand to see this young woman alone waiting and after meeting with her a few times told her she was welcome to stay in her home for the remainder of the school year so she could graduate and her friend could save on the gas money.
Amazing. Nicole is a pillar of strength and is ready to attend a junior college where she wants to study the Culinary Arts and possibly look into becoming a counselor to help those who’ve been abused. When I gave her the Hopeful Hearts Charm and explained to her that it is a symbol of our victory, veneration and value she said, “I’ll wear this every day. It reminds me that I can’t live in the past. I have to move forward.”
I’m excited to see all the places she will go! 😉 Meeting Nicole was a blessing amongst the hectic day of trying to get out of town. I’m empowered by her and her story and I pray you are as well.
No matter what has been done to you or against you or what struggle you are going through…remember to move forward.
Blessings
Shannon