It was at a young age that I made a “deal” with God. I had always heard of people
making deals with the devil, but I made mine with God. If you let me do more
than sit on a church pew, when I hit my 30’s, I’ll come back. God kept me to my
word, and brought me back. But, He allowed me to go and do what I thought
was fun, yet I always knew that He was there. That’s why I kept pouring in the
drugs and the alcohol, to create a separation between Him and me, and through
all that, trying to fill the void that was His place in my heart.
I see the same thing in the women in the jails, the homeless shelters, and the
girls in the children’s home. Whether it is unhealthy relationships, food, cutting,
drugs, or alcohol, they all are trying to fill that void. I look back now, and know
that I missed a lot of blessings, and I hurt a lot of people but, I hurt Him most of
all.
PPM: How old were you when God had you honor your end of the deal?
Diane: I was 33. And I hear a lot of people say that when they begin their new
walk with Christ, that everything from the old was gone. It wasn’t that way with
me; it was step, by step, by step. And that process helps me recognize the
different traits in the girls at the home. Because I didn’t get what was needed in
my little home church as a young woman, I am sensitive to those young women
that seem to “have it” but don’t. They still need guidance. And my past definitely
helps me to bear what the kids at the children’s home dish out.
I’ve always said that God has a great sense of humor, with me wanting kids. In
never having children of my own, and then Him blessing us so much with
*Angelice~with me being in my early 50’s~and being house parents in the
children’s home, I something that could not happen naturally.
Even when my mother got Alzheimer’s, I never
questioned God as to why. As hard as it was to see
her like that, He gave me a child in her. He knew
that I could not have handled a sudden separation
from her; He knows that those kinds of things has
to come in little chunks for me.
I see an element of myself in the kids; I know what
they thinking, feeling, and doing. I want to spare
them from any of the pain that I walked through,
and to encourage them to think about the choices
that they make, and what the outcome of that will
be. And that helps me to understand that it’s tiny,
baby steps that they have to make.
*Angelice is a bubbly 20 month old that the Earley’s have had from
birth, and are in the process of adopting.
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