How God Uses All Things - Even a Can of Soda - in His Redemption Story
The Annie E. Casey Foundation states that every year, approximately 20,000 youth will leave foster care without being adopted, without returning home, without permanency, without family. This is called “aging out.”
Of these youth:
40% will become homeless within 18 months;
71% of young men will be incarcerated;
50% of young women will lose their children back into the foster care system;
97% will begin a lifetime of chronic poverty.
The statistics are overwhelming. The challenges these young adults have faced are even more so.
90% have experienced severe trauma;
They have been in an average of 10 different placements, some as many as 30, moving to a new placement an average of every six months;
Over 80% experience severe mental health challenges; and
Over 40% report thinking about suicide and 24% have attempted.
I once heard working in foster care compared to emptying the ocean with a teaspoon, and just when you start to see a little change, it rains.
It can be overwhelming, challenging, and quite frankly gut-wrenching to be in this work, to hear stories every day of things that should not be, and meet incredible people with so much potential who struggle every day just to function because of things that should not have happened to them.
But there is hope.
A pastor once told me, “God shows up the most in impossible situations.” And show up he does!
Every day, we get to see God use ordinary things and ordinary people in the redemption story of the young adults we work with, who He loves more than we do.
Things like a can of soda and a pastor who was minding his own business, just trying to buy his morning coffee.
To say that “J” has experienced immense struggle would be the understatement of the century. Born into a family connected to drugs and gang activity, he was indoctrinated into that life at age 7. At age 13, he was sent to the US by his grandmother to escape, but ended up being in a trafficking situation. He then bounced between the street, the gang, and drugs until he came into foster care.
Despite his circumstances, “J” genuinely wanted to change and wanted better. He put in the work, went through rehab, focused on his education, and, slowly, things began to change.
However, the night before moving out of homelessness into a stable housing situation, everything came crashing down as he was attacked by those who he thought were his family. Deciding that nothing would ever work out for him, he put drugs into his back pocket and walked to the local park and resigned that this was his destiny. On the way, he stopped at a 7-11 to get cigarettes to go with his drugs, except he needed someone over 21 to purchase them.
That same morning, a local pastor had stopped to get a cup of coffee before his long list of daily tasks. When he was asked by an 18-year-old to purchase cigarettes, he didn’t see what most people saw. He saw what God saw. Instead of cigarettes, he purchased “J” a soda, and they sat on the curb of that 7-11 and talked for 3 hours. Instead of choosing drugs that day, “J” chose Christ.
“J”’s journey is still bumpy, and he still struggles, but his hope has returned. He has support and knows he is loved.
This year in Virginia, over 500 young adults will age out of foster care, without permanency, without family, and without the knowledge that they are loved.
What if you could be one of the people God uses in their redemption story?
You can sign up to become a mentor for a youth who has aged out of foster care through Project Belong’s Don’t Go Alone program here. If you have questions before you sign up, you can reach out to dontgoalone@projectbelongva.org.