My mom was born in Trinidad and the eldest of 3 siblings, her father died a week before they were supposed to come to Canada. My mom and my grandmother still packed their bags and made it to Canada. They lived in a basement with a family friend and cleaned animal shelters and warehouses at night (my mom was 16 at this time)
A couple years later her youngest brother was diagnosed with total kidney failure while still only being a landed immigrant (the lawyer who was supposed to file their PR paperwork stole their money and was never to be found)
My mom’s middle brother dropped out of school to work in an autobody shop to help with the bills, my grandmother started working an assembly line in a factory and any odd job she could.
My mom became her youngest brother’s primary caregiver after she got married to the most supportive and loving husband and had me and my sister. As the years went on my mom was raising two kids while also raising her youngest brother who had now developed a plethora of other medical complications including heart failure at 25 years old.
She never wavered in the face of adversity and took my uncle to every doctors appointment and specialist appointment right up until he received a kidney transplant nearly 16 years after the initial failure.
Unfortunately, two years after her youngest brother received his kidney transplant, her middle brother died of a massive heart attack at 44 years old and left behind a 15 year old son who my mom now also started to look after.
After her middle brother died, her youngest brother’s transplanted kidney failed and his heart condition worsened with open heart surgery now being inevitable. In 2021 my uncle now had surgery and my mom took the entire year off from work to take care of him and assist in his recovery.
In January of 2022, my father was then hit by a car and was sent to hospital, and my mom was now splitting her time between being at the hospital making sure my dad was alright and then going to the other end of the city to take care of her brother.
Unfortunately a week after my dad was released from hospital, my mom’s youngest brother passed away from complications of pneumonia and heart failure. Somehow my mom pulled the pieces together and continued to smile after losing both her little brothers.
My mother and grandmother were always inseparable and even more so after the youngest brother passed away, they would spend every Wednesday and Friday together, and countless hours on the phone every night.
In 2025, my grandmother suffered from an aortic aneurism which was deemed to be at a fatal size if not operated on immediately. On April 8th 2025, my grandmother when in for surgery, and due to complications she suffered a massive stroke on the operating table and less than 10 days later my mother now lost the final member of her nuclear family.
To this day I will never understand how my mom gets out of bed everyday, or smiles and still sees the colours of the world, but she is truly one of the most incredible women to ever walk this earth and I am the luckiest and most blessed person to call her my Mom.
People mock what they don’t understand.
Last year, I dressed like my miracle, even made a paper boarding pass with my name on it, acted in faith, and waited on God. It was funny, and I probably looked mad because I was dressed in a winter jacket in my room, holding a travel box.
I was expecting responses from several schools, the most competitive one called me for an interview that finally got me in hours after my boyfriend sent an email affirming faith that I got into that particular school with funding. Guess what, I got into that same competitive school. Sitting down to write that email at midnight must have seemed foolish at the point.
But the same faith that looked foolish then is the same faith that brought me here today.
Because “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)
Sometimes, “the work” is acting like what you’re praying for is already done.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
We forget that Abraham was called crazy until Isaac came (Romans 4:18–21).
Noah looked stupid until the rain started (Genesis 6:22).
Hannah was mocked until Samuel was born (1 Samuel 1:19–20).
The woman with the issue of blood didn’t wait for an instruction; she touched His garment and was healed (Mark 5:27–29).
So yes, I’ll do it again this year Hallelujah Challenge. I’ll dress like my miracle because I’ve seen what faith can do when it’s backed by preparation and belief.
And before you call it delusion, remember: “Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfil His promises to her.” (Luke 1:45)
Faith doesn’t always look logical, but it’s never wasted. You can’t mock what you’ve never tried to understand.
And for those who say they can’t take Christianity seriously, maybe it’s not because faith is unserious. Maybe it’s because they’ve never seen the power of belief beyond logic.
That’s fine.
Some of us have seen it, and once you’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8),
You stop explaining faith, you start living it.
as someone who has been doing genealogy research for my family, women should hyphen their name. it has been difficult to find much on the women in my family because their last name was changed in marriage. their identity is erased. we should all care less about a man’s legacy.
i truly wanna be a WIFE BUT i wanna be a genuinely happy wife. a submissive wife. a cooking wife. a loving wife. a peaceful wife. a secure wife. a comfortable and safe wife. to a honorable, ambitious, hardworking, LOYAL, loving, romantic, fun, spontaneous God fearing husband