48: Tori Hope Petersen | Hope For The Foster Child

Tori and I chat about being removed from her mom's care at a young age, moving from one foster home to another, the circumstances God used to open her heart to Him, discovering God was the father she had always longed for, allowing foster children to be the voice for policy change in our current system, and the longing for discipleship she experienced as a college student in crisis.

Blog: Torisstoris.wordpress.com

Psalm 40:2 

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.

5:18 Tori begins sharing her story of growing up as a child who spent a stint of time in a foster home, before being reunified with her mother until age 12.  She then returned to the foster system where she lived in 12 different homes before emancipating out 

8:35Tori discusses replacing the lies spoken over her as a child with the truth. 

Mire: a situation or state of difficulty, distress or embarassment from which it is hard to exit oneself

"I am made in the image of God and that is the most important aspect of the truth.  It is not about who I am alone, but who I am because Christ made me and because He dwells in me.  It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him."

"Sometimes I get so worried, 'Am I glorifying God?'....God calls us to glorify Him, but He also calls us to enjoy Him. We have to find enjoyment in those little things that are moving us toward God rather than tearing apart those little sins and big sins that are moving us away from God. We can acknowledge those, but ultimately grace has to cover over those."

13:02 Tori shares the events that led to her being placed in long term foster care

"There is something about when we are ignoring a blanant aspect of someone's identity we're not learning from them, we're not learning how their fully made in God's image, and then we're losing knowledge not just of ourselves, not just about the neighbor we are supposed to love, but about Christ."

"If you can't sit across the table from uncomfortable, you can not sit across the table from love."

18:47Tori shares what it was like in the her various foster care homes

"Often times I say, 'Oh, I went through 12 homes,' and it was difficult, but I learned so much about why people are the way they are. I learned that every good attribute that people have is for a reason and every bad behavior, bad characteristic someone has usually comes from a hurt that has been inflicted upon them."

SHOW NOTES continued

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