My mother was unable to care for me when I was born. As a result, I became a ward of the court and was placed in the foster care system in Washington, D.C., where I remained until I was 20.
I grew up in an emotionally and physically abusive home. At 13, with only the clothes on my back, I ran away. I spent my first night as a runaway in the cold, sleeping under a car and later, under a house.
Before running away, I had been living in Aiken, South Carolina, but the court relocated me to Washington, D.C. There I was moved around from a foster home to a group home and then to another group home.
At 16, I was pregnant and a junior in high school. The father of my baby wanted me to have an abortion, as did the social worker assigned to my case.
The odds seemed against me, and I felt hopeless. But I wanted to finish high school, and I wanted to keep my baby.
I remember walking down the hall of my school one day and noticing a picture of a cloud on the bulletin board. Posted beneath the cloud was the verse, “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26, NIV).
I removed the cloud, took it home and taped it to my pregnant belly. I prayed over the Scripture and applied its truth to my situation.
God moved on my behalf, and I was able to keep my son and finish high school. Before graduation a classmate told me about Jesus and I became born again at 17.
After high school, I went to a technical school for two years and earned a degree in business administration. My son, Chaun, who was born when I was 16, is now a 23-year-old college student and is working toward his degree in business.
God has called both of us into His service. Chaun is a born-again Christian and a minister at the church we attend. I’ve started a youth network to provide help for young people who are troubled, as I was.
God has filled my heart with vision and hope for the future. What He’s showing me these days is awesome! I know He will come through again as He has in the past.
The Western Journal 
Troy Anderson 
