God Uses Broken Things - Part 3

Daily Byte

Two days ago we saw the story of Naomi and Ruth, and unusual and unlikely mother/daughter relationship from the Hebrew Bible. Yesterday we started looking at a modern story of Jeanne, a white woman and Regina, a black girl who were candidates for mother/daughter adoption, but were denied because of race. Let's look together as their story continues.

Regina eventually graduated from high school and college, and starts an upscale beauty salon. It is so successful that she opens a second one. Regina tries to find Jeanne as an adult but is unsuccessful. Regina had started a family and she was doing well financially, but she felt a need to tell her story of pain growing up in all of these placements. She wanted other foster children to know that there is hope and that they are not alone. Twenty-five years after the last meeting with Jeanne in the shelter, she writes her story and her book titled Somebody’s Someone is published and it becomes a sensation. She was on a radio program telling her story when one of Regina’s former co-workers heard her and she knew where Jeanne was. She called Jeanne and told her about the book and that Regina has a website.

To make the story short, Regina and Jeanne were reconnected in 2003, twenty-five years after they last saw one-another at the group home. Jeanne loved Regina as a daughter, and Regina loved Jeanne as a mother. That same year, they went to the same courthouse that had denied the adoption and petitioned that Jeanne would become the permanent mother of Regina. They found a judge that heard about the story, and a formal ceremony was held making them officially, Mother and Daughter. Regina was in her forties when she was finally adopted.

The moral of this story is found in Regina’s words. “I made myself believe that God, in his plan, had made sure that nobody would never, ever in a million years be left on their own without being held up or helped out.” Regina found a truth that is an enduring truth for all of us. God has a plan that involves us giving and receiving help from one another.

We often allow race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age and religion to create barriers that hold back the joy of aligning with God’s will. Naomi and Ruth rejected all of the reasons they should not be mother and daughter. Jeanne and Regina were told no to being mother and daughter, but eventually they were brought together for a unique bonding experience.

The truth of the matter is that the systems and circumstances tried to take the joy out of their lives. Looking at Naomi holding Obed in her lap, I think I hear Naomi saying, “I still have joy.” After going through the death of my husband; after going through the deaths of my sons; after having to move back home; after a season of depression; after facing the fact that she won't have any biological grandchildren. I think I can hear her saying, “After all I’ve been through I still have joy.” Looking at Regina now being able to claim Jeanne as her legal mother, I think I hear Regina saying, “After being abandoned by my biological parents; after being shipped from home to home; after facing abusive caregivers, after being separated from the person that showed me genuine love. I think I can hear Regina saying, “After all I’ve been through I still have Joy.”

Focus Reading

Ruth 4:13-14

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!

Staying Online Prayer:

Lord, Thank you for the heart of Regina that says, “I made myself believe that God, in his plan, had made sure that nobody would never, ever in a million years be left on their own without being held up or helped out.”