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.

“I came from a physically and mentally abusive background. I spent the majority of my life in some form of addiction - drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, stealing, lying, cheating - if it was wrong, it had my name all over it. Deep seeded depression was a way of life for me.
Every relationship I was in […]

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 think that I just have faith.”
Tien, 21/F, Boston, Pentecostal
PROFILE:
I am a devout follower of my religion
Services: at least twice a week
Congregation: yes
Heaven/Hell/Reincarnation: yes/yes/yes
Pray: every day, sometimes twice a day
One true belief: ?
Plan: yes

“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. […]