Experience

What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

The life experience that helped me grow the most was homelessness when I left home at 19 years old. My mother wasn’t too happy with me, as we didn’t get along very well at that time. As an African, you are not supposed to leave your family home until the age of 26. But living in the USA, I did the opposite. I couldn’t take a lot of things anymore, but there’s more to the story, so I’ll just leave it here. When I was leaving, I told myself I was not going back until I succeeded. Before I left, my mother met me at one of my aunt’s houses; they wanted to talk me into staying, but I couldn’t. So my mother took the Bible, told me to put my hand on it so she could speak for me to become nothing in this world. I ran outside, got on my knees, and asked God to forgive me and that I forgive her and rebuked everything bad that was spoken against me. I went back inside and told her that God gives choices and that I will live the life that he will give me and not what she can say of me. I had my first job at 14, doing hair for children on the weekend, and was working at Publix.So, when I was leaving, I thought I had money in a shared account with her. She closed it, took all of my money, and the car. I walked to work and some of my coworkers helped me by driving me. I even asked my store manager to let me wash cars just to make extra income. I moved so many times. I bought my car back from my mom; she kept my money and never gave me the car. I was homeless, but I had faith and knew that I had to keep trying. I didn’t let myself be used. The moral of the story is: Don’t give up on what you want in this life, and never let anyone else’s failures, not even your family members’, become your own. Jesus is the Way Maker; just trust and keep the faith. -CM