God Uses Broken Things - Part 2

Daily Byte

Yesterday, I shared the biblical story of Naomi and Ruth becoming unlikely partners journeying together, and today I will share a modern story involving two women who became unlikely partners journeying through life together. The story of Jeanne and Regina is a story with an ending unlike any that I have ever heard. Regina was an Black girl when her mother turned her over to Child Protective Services saying that she could not take care of her. You see, Regina’s mother and father had addiction problems that put Regina at risk of not receiving the care that a child should receive. Regina began a season in her life where she was moved from foster home to foster home, from placement to placement, from group home to group home. Regina said she stopped counting when the number of placement hit thirty. She tells stories of even being abused in some of these foster homes.

At the age of twelve she was tired of moving from place to place and she ran and turned herself into the local police station. Her case goes to court and at age twelve she is sent to a group home for girls. While there she meets a counselor by the name of Jeanne, a white woman, who encourages her and connects with her in a way that no one had ever been able to in the past. Regina gave her the nickname she never used for any of her foster mothers. Regina sometimes would call her “mama”. Listen to what Regina says Jeanne told her one-day. “No matter what – there will always be something or someone for everybody.” Regina reported that her response to this statement was that, “Somehow 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 came alive while Jeanne mentored her and Jeanne became committed to seeing this young lady thrive. To Regina, Jeanne was that someone that God had placed on this earth to help her. At some point they entertained the notion that Jeanne would adopt Regina, and they both got excited about the possibility of Regina getting to leave the group shelter and have a more normal upbringing in a home. Who could oppose such a marvelous opportunity for this young lady? Jeanne applied to Social Services and petitioned the courts to adopt this child that no one else was coming forward to adopt.

There was one problem, Jeanne was white and Regina was Black. Well, the petition was denied. As a matter of fact, the courts indicated that the counselor's continued treatment to the child was hampering potential placements that they thought were better for her. The day that they thought that Regina would get to go home with Jeanne was the day that Jeanne was ordered to stop having contact with her all together.

Reflecting on what Jeanne had done for her, Regina writes in her memoir, “I wanted to let her know that for the first time someone had stood up and fought for me, just plain ole me. Not for the money they would get from the county, or wherever – but b’cause they just liked me. But most of all I wanted her to know that no matter what – no matter what – it was more than good ‘nough to know that finally, finally, somebody had wanted me for their own someone, just like I’d ‘magined. I wanted her to know that this was more than any body had ever wanted for me.”

Tomorrow I will share the dramatic conclusion to this story.

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, I thank you for all of the somebody’s that have been my life. Please allow me to be somebody to someone.