As baby, her parents used marijuana to sedate her. Her father was shot during a drug deal. Her mother abandoned her and her sister. As an adult, her infant son endured heart surgery. It would be understandable if LaDonna were upset with God. “But God is good”, asserts the 24-year-old Texan. This is her extraordinary journey, guided by tragedy and faith.

“There have been major ups and downs in my life, and the only time I’ve been ‘up’ is when my relationship with God was strong. He has always picked me up when I’ve fallen; and when I was down for a long time, He allowed me to recover and come back stronger. I am where […]

I was so upset. I knew what was coming so I ran from the house fighting the emotion welling up in my chest and throat. I jumped into the car with one of my aunts and said, “Please take me with you. I can’t stay”

My mother was breastfeeding me, and she was often high or drunk. She didn’t realize until it was almost too late that I had lost a lot of weight and was very ill.

My parents would want to party or do something. And if I started crying and became a nuisance, they would inhale Marijuana and cup their hands around my face and exhale the smoke until I breathed in enough to pass out. You do that long enough to a baby, instead of feeding it, and you will kill it. Not to mention, the brain damage that could cause.

I know Hashem exists because I survived toxic goiter that was supposed to kill me. Doctors did nothing; I had to beat it out.
I was Xian, and knew it was all wrong. When I converted to Judaism, it felt right. It’s ironic that I conceived my son only days after conversion.
JAC, 33/F, Chicago, Jewish

PROFILE:
I […]

“I know God exists. It’s not a feeling, it’s a knowledge. He instantly healed my body more than once. He healed my son’s heart condition; the doctors were amazed. So I know God.
As a child, I believed in God at the time He healed me of a horrible disease, but I didn’t know God. […]

Surprising aspect of your beliefs? “I practice Buddhism.”
God exists because? “My son is not dead.”
“My son was injured in a motorcycle accident. It was serious, but he is alive. Paralyzed, but alive. I keep hearing, ‘everything happens for a reason’. I am not blaming anyone, but I am tired of hearing, ‘everything […]

There are too many things that cannot be explained by scientific reasoning. I can see the effects of something even if I cannot prove its existence (I cannot see the wind, but I can feel it and see how it moves things around me).
I had a very bad childhood and it came to head when […]