The last day has been pretty hard on me. One of my young women from my old ward has chosen to live a pretty crazy life. Since she was about 15, she has become a drug addict. Not just recreational, I am talking hard-core. She got pregnant last year (unsure who the father is) and dropped out of high school. She has been in and out of rehab for a while and it never seems to stick. She admitted that when she was first pregnant, she took a lot of drugs trying to abort the baby. Supposedly, she got her head straight and decided to give the baby up for adoption to a good family. My friend, her sister, called me yesterday to tell me that she had the baby. They found drugs in her system so DCFS was coming to take the baby. I don't know what this means for the family that wanted to adopt her and I don't know if the baby is going to have problems or not. My guess is that she will.
I also found out about another of my young women. She has always been kind of strange and I always just wrote it off as her needing attention. I think just about everyone did. Around December or so, she just disappeared. Her mom said she moved out and didn't know where she had gone. Saturday, it came out in the paper that her step-dad has been arrested on sexual abuse charges. It gave the details without telling her name but it all lines up. And it all lines up with all the weird things that have gone on with her over the years. It all makes me so sick. I have not been able to think of anything else.
There is a lot of ugliness in this world that drags us all down at times. Despite all of it though, my faith in Christ is stronger than ever. I still see his hand in my life and the world around me daily. It helps to ease the pain and the hurt that we all go through, whether for ourselves or on behalf of those we love. I choose to let my hope and faith live on.
I will pray for these girls. That they may be restored to happiness and all that is right.