MEGHAN'S STORY

I was sexually abused every day for six years, I suffer depression, I have tried to commit suicide three times, and I have a drug problem that started even before I was born. I have been taken away from my mom for the final time and have been kicked out of my grandmom’s house for good. I am a lesbian in a church that isn’t ready for me and I am an age that no one is there to respect me.

This was just the beginning of Meghan’s story.

We all sat there speechless.

I asked my small group to share who they were and who they weren’t. Knowing only a little about Meghan I thought she would have shared something more like this— My name is Meghan and I am in 10thgrade. I made the varsity basketball team my freshman year and I like biking. But I then realized that these things didn’t make Meghan who she was.

All these heartaches were just steps on her journey. She mentioned with almost every experience that she felt lonely or not loved. She shared that she tried to kill herself because she didn’t have anyone to love her or even know her. And she was dependent on drugs, because it was the only thing she had to be dependent on.

Meghan went on to say that she was in a foster home that prayed before every meal. She told us about this experience, saying “I knew nothing. I knew that people prayed in this world, but I didn’t know why. But with this family something clicked. And now I am a different person. My story continues on today knowing that I am loved and I should never feel alone. I take every step knowing that I have someone on my side. That I have a partner in crime and one that isn’t going to get my in trouble. Knowing that I am God’s child is the most important thing I now know.

Meghan got it. Her story was not all bad, because now she saw that she had hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better, even if she is still in and out of hospitals and foster homes due to continuing struggles. She got it. She knew that she was a Child of God and her story portrayed that in the most sincere way.

Three weeks later I was at Meghan’s baptism. She smiled the biggest, most beautiful smile when the pastor said, “You are a Child of God.”