I grew up receiving abuse and hurts by adults in my life. Not many people were patient with me or gave me time to let me improve in different areas of my life. I received lots of verbal abuse and always got bullied by kids in school because of my loss of hearing. During my teen years, I felt I was the only one going through struggles and there was no one else who was having a hard time or being abused by others. I didn’t understand why God allowed this to happen to me and didn’t believe He really cares for me.
God used the boys from the FHL (Faith Hope Love)* home to help me grasp the deeper reason of why He allowed the past hurts and abuses. If I had not gone through all the pain and hurts, I would never understand what the boys have gone through or done. Others say bad things about us and don’t give us a chance to build patience, confidence in ourselves, and most importantly, unconditional love. Yes, we have made wrong choices, been abused, or encountered other situations, but it doesn’t give you the right to judge us by our past. God still loves us and cares for us no matter what we have done. That is called grace and unconditional love.
I am grateful for boys who help me get a glimpse of God’s picture. They always will be special in my heart, I will always look forward to spending time with them, I will always try to encourage them in their difficult times, and I will always love them no matter what.
~Korielle Smith
Korielle is serving with VOICE Missions in Hualien City, Taiwan. Teaching in Taiwan for the past six months has opened her eyes to see how big and awesome God’s grace is. She loves teaching and playing with her students. She also loves to spend time exploring Hualien city, play sports with FHL boys at the boys’ home, and learning Chinese.
*Editor's Note: The Faith Hope Love Home is a home for troubled teen boys. For the past few years the Hualian VOICE Missions team has been very involved in ministering at this home.
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