The Formula for Mending a Broken Heart

There wasn’t much in Shannon’s past to point toward the beautiful life she leads today. Born to a young mother, she entered a world of chaos. Both of her parents struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. And her mother suffered especially from the mental turmoil of untreated schizophrenia.

The paranoia that came with her condition cast an ever-darkening shadow of fear over the family. Worsening episodes often drove the young mom to neglect and abuse her terrified children, threatening violence and even tattooing them in case they got lost. Shannon was only four years old when she and her siblings began bouncing in and out of foster care.

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The children were separated into different foster homes before being reunited with their birth mother, only to be removed again a short time later. This pattern continued for four years — a chapter of Shannon's life marked by various forms of horrific abuse. By the time she was eight, Shannon had attended nine different elementary schools and had lost count of the number of foster homes.

“I felt very unloved, very unwanted, very angry at my situation and completely out of control over the whole thing,” she said.

When that hurt boiled over, she would lash out against foster siblings, foster parents and even school staff. Finally, she struggled to last even a week in any foster home without being passed on to another. To this day, she remembers adults around her whispering about how difficult she was and knowing they expected her to end up just like her mother.  

Eight times Shannon was removed before her mother lost her parental rights. Finally, the State issued Shannon’s father the same warning — if he couldn’t get his act together soon, all of his children would be adopted.

The news acted as a wakeup call, and her dad immediately enrolled in a faith-based recovery program that helped him get back on his feet. Through the program, he discovered Christ for himself and was baptized before finally reuniting with all of his children.

“I just felt like my dad hung the moon because he was able to get us back,” Shannon said.

Though a glimmer of hope had begun to peak through her clouded future, the road forward was still rough and rocky. Now in the care of a single dad of four, 9-year-old Shannon began spending afternoons at a 4-H after-school program. Her old habits soon resurfaced as she picked fights with other kids. She even attacked staff members, throwing punches and repeatedly attempting to embarrass one woman in front of her peers. This same woman, however, recognized pain behind the child's anger and met it with relentless, patient care.

“Sinde would always tell me, ‘You know, there’s nothing you can do to make me stop loving you. I love you, and you’re just going to have to deal with it,’” Shannon recalled.

She tested those words at every turn, but Sinde, whom Shannon now calls her “heart mom,” never faltered. And slowly, Shannon began to believe her.  

Meanwhile, Shannon’s father began taking all four children to church each week, determined to share the Good News he’d found with them. There, Shannon encountered Jesus as well and was baptized at age 13.

“Those two things turned my whole life around, her love and Jesus. Somebody loved me, and I had a perfect Father,” she said.

And that perfect Father wasn’t done with Shannon’s family yet. Even her birth mother miraculously found her way into the fold of faith in Christ before her death in 2016, cementing her hope of joining both of her birth parents in glory someday.

Today, Shannon endeavors to pass that unconditional love and light on to the next generation. She always knew she wanted to foster one day after watching God transform her pain into purpose. But she and her husband, Tim, were busy raising seven children of their own by 2021.

Still, it was her husband who approached her one evening to ask if she thought they should consider fostering anyway.

“I told the Lord I was willing, but He would have to be very clear if He wanted us to do this. We needed a big sign because we didn’t want to do it without Him,” Shannon said.

A few Sundays later, a man stepped on stage at their church to share about the need for foster families and to encourage Christians with the support of Child Bridge.

“We were just shocked. We looked at each other and were like, ‘Alright, God, this is big enough.’ We went right out to the lobby and signed up,” she said.

A few months later, on Tim’s birthday, the couple got a call about a sibling set of three who needed to be placed together and right away. As they waited for the case worker to arrive with the trio, Shannon recalls Tim asking if she thought they were crazy.

“Yep, we sure are,” she said, laughing. “But this is God. We just have to obey Him.”

Experience taught Shannon about the real brokenness of the world around her from an early age. But, she says, she has also learned the formula for healing — love plus Jesus. Now three years into her own fostering journey, she points others to what God did in her own life as living proof that nothing is impossible. Nothing.

No matter where the road takes these children or their families, God can use imperfect people to give them hope and a future.

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“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11

You never know how your love, partnered with the power of Christ, could change the trajectory of a child’s life until you put your “yes” on the table.