Hope Shack

I’m sharing Hanna’s Story, written in her own words.  She’s a teenage girl that wants to tell you her tale.    I’m so grateful for a God that continues to rescue us one by one.  – Christina

Read on…

Shared via: my name is Hanna, here is my testimony.

So, here’s to my story and starting a new place to dwell and share my thoughts on my faith, feelings, and life experiences in general. I’m Hanna, a soft spoken teenage girl with a growing love for God and a past that I’d rather talk about and accept than bottle up and keep within. I live in a small town in Texas that I just recently moved to after a pretty heart and gut wrenching event. After about a year of living in hotel to hotel with my mother & stepfather, they were arrested and my little half-sister and I were taken to live with my stepfather’s parents (nana & grandaddy). I was scared, utterly lost, and wondered what it was keeping me from my parents. (not to mention I lost ten pounds that week from stress) But I tried to stay strong for my sister and hid it all inside, hoping that if I kept it in that it would eventually disappear. This was in the summer before my freshman year of high school, a trying time in itself for someone with everything in place, let alone me. What on earth was this? I had no idea what God had to do with it, and at the time I couldn’t care less. One day that summer God blessed me with a coping tool that doubled as a talent— art. I would draw every single day, mostly singers from the 60’s that I would listen to. At the time I was not spiritually mature enough to realize that it was from above that I was given this beautiful calling, but I continued to express myself through this passion and began high school with something to preoccupy my wandering mind in the midst of a crisis. This didn’t mean everything was simple from the get-go. I fought and fought with myself; how I wasn’t happy with my skinny figure, and how people would make comments on how I needed to eat more because I was unhealthy, when really that is just how I naturally look. On the other hand, I had never been in the same church before for more than a couple of days if at all. But when I moved to this area I began going to a very small and new cowboy church in east Texas. My first thoughts were “What am I going to get out of this? I don’t fit in here”. But, as I usually did, I went through the motions. I went through the motions of bible reading, smiling, and accepting my parents’ drug use. Nothing seemed right and I always looked down on myself for being who was, and always being this unlucky being that I thought I was. Later in high school and after getting out of bad companionships, I knew what I wanted from life, and I began pulling myself out of the hole I was making a comfort zone. But, pulling myself out of the hole I was in wasn’t something I could do alone. I needed God’s guidance, but I didn’t have him in my life. So I kept on doing the same thing, pulling myself out of the hole, falling in again, out of depression, and in again I go. I stopped going to counseling and didn’t want to talk about it with my sister when she would ask “Hanna, when will we see mommy and daddy again?”because I had tears and no answers. And then something in me happened, in several different exposures to the cross I was bearing I continued to see my worth in Christ. There was never a specific song, or night where I had the epiphany, but gradually as if falling in love I knew that though I did not have my earthly parents any longer, I continually had a savior. I no longer have thoughts of suicide or harm because I know that this life of mine is no coincidence. And if you’re reading this right now and looking for a sign, I am here to say that you have a reason to be here. You and I have special purposes set by God to fulfill and build his eternal kingdom. It has been three years since I’ve seen my mother’s face, heard her laugh, gotten a hug, or an “I love you”. I love my parents very much and understand that addiction is an awful epidemic, but I pray and pray and will not give up on them. I am now going into my senior year of high school, with an optimistic mind, wonderful friends, and a loving church. I love making art, writing, and reading. Here are a few thoughts that I have learned throughout my journey thus far:

• appreciate everyone and every little thing.
• love and accept all, just as Christ does.
• don’t take advantage of people or take them for granted.
• don’t allow those who look down on/ make fun of you for being a Christan affect who you are.
• there IS a greater plan.

Thank you for reading this, take care. x

— Hanna.

***************

 

Read More Stories                                                               Share Your Story

 What is it you’re facing?  Nobody goes into battle alone.  We can stand with you.  Let us know in the comments below how we can pray for you, or by submitting your story.  

He will fight for you.