It was Winter in China. A small girl, victim of the One-child Policy or from the midst of the prostitution circle within China, was left in front of a building. Why would her parents give her up, many would ask. During the One-child Policy, parents couldn’t have more than one child. To most Chinese families, having a son was preferred more than girls. A son meant he could inherit the family name and continue the bloodline. Another possibility was that the parents were so poor they couldn’t afford to take care of her. They left her in hopes that someone who could love and care for her would find her. They loved her so much they wished for her to find a better opportunity. Indeed this was a sad beginning, but it was meant for something more.
That winter, a policeman came upon this baby girl and took her in. She was sent to many foster families and orphanages to care for her as a search was done for her parents. No one came to claim the girl. For the first few years of her life, she was raised in the orphanage system in China. In 1998, China orphanages were filling fast and families in United States were reaching out to adopt kids from China. A couple who lost their child in a miscarriage were told that there was a baby girl who was in need of a home. The couple decided they wanted to take this child into their home and their family. The couple then went to China and went through the adoption process to bring her home to the United States on December 28, 1998. That was where the baby girl found her first love. Her first love was her adopted parents and their family who have accepted her as part of the family. This is where love found the girl and started to fill her.
Love was not seen as something that the little girl had growing up. There was bitterness in her heart from her origins. The love she received from her adopted family was truly a blessing. She grew up learning of God’s love in church, but with the weights of the past she turned the feelings aside digging deeper into depravity and insecurity. The girl searched and searched for love through high school. Although it may also have been a search for acceptance from other students. At the same time love was still looking for the girl and it wasn’t until she found William Jessup University that God’s love found her and her desire for love was fulfilled.
Entering college was the experience of a lifetime. It also had some unsettlements because the factor of love wasn’t in the mix. Love within the Jessup community was so great it was scary at sometimes. Love appeared in front of the girl first, through the friends she made in Jessup. They accepted her for who she was and as friends they were willing to offer their time to walk ahead as guides, by her side as companions and behind her as supporters in the hard times. They loved her as a sister in Christ and even when her insecurity had gotten the best of her, they continuously remind her they are there and that they want to help. In her stubbornness they learned that they needed to be just as equally stubborn to get the point across.
Love appeared again in front of the girl through her family. For so many years in her life, she couldn’t accept the love of a family. The fact she was adopted was so great of a burden she felt ashamed and disconnected. She locked her true feelings from her family and tried to hide the fact that she didn’t share a similarity to her family. She wanted to have a deeper connection with her family and her parents who loved and raised her. With the encouragement of the people in Jessup, she spoke with her family and little by little opened up about her insecurities. Each insecurity that was told would release a shackle in life. To this day it is still a work in progress for her, but being in a community that plays the role of a spiritual family, it is possible to share the love that found her with her family.
Love found the girl in new ways as well. It never occurred that there are people not just your family and friends that can love you on a deeper level. Love found her through the eyes of a young man who took her hands and said “I love you.” Love was expressed by a young man who loved her smile and loved her all in all. All the good in her and the flaws. It was love that bloomed in her heart and is open for all to see. Love that found her made her stronger and that love remains even in the hard times. Now that she found love- where’s the next step. To be honest, that is to be determined.
