Trust through her eyes

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of building trust with each child who comes to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. My point was that trust is the foundation of the healing journey for these precious children who have endured so much betrayal and pain.

After writing that, I thought of a child who explained the point much better than I did. Well, she’s not a child anymore. One of our wise and now-grown past residents spoke on Valentine’s Day at an Appreciation Luncheon for some friends of the Ranch. As she described her life before coming to us, she said, “Imagine trying to learn who you are when your surroundings never stay the same. Imagine trying to trust adults when every goodbye confirms what you already believe — that people will always leave you. Consistency was not something I recognized. Stability felt foreign and unpredictable. Chaos, however, felt familiar.”

Then she shared what she found at the Ranch, “They gave me structure where there had been chaos. Consistency where there had been abandonment. And adults who showed up — again and again — even when I made it difficult.”

Children need adults they can trust and who behave with integrity in their lives. I am grateful to God and all whom I work with that this remarkable young woman found exactly that at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch.

To repeat the words of Jesus I shared a couple weeks ago, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” —Luke 16:10

Please keep the children and staff of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in your prayers.

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