You Are More

Guest Post by Angela Prusia

For the past ten years, my husband and I have volunteered with TEEN REACH, a camp and mentoring program providing hope to teens residing in foster care.

Recently we visited one of our campers at a detention center for incarcerated youth. More reckless choices landed her in lockdown. Isolated from the rest of the girls on her unit, she spent days on end alone in her room. Our visit was a complete surprise, so she swaggered into the visitation room dressed in her blue jumpsuit ready to pick a fight. One look at my husband and me, and the tough rebel she portrayed melted. Hope sparked in her eyes while a huge grin spread across her face. Her shoulders relaxed as she fell into my embrace and listened to my husband tell her she was just as beautiful as ever.

For the next 20 minutes, we reminisced about camp, reliving fun days of fishing, archery and flying down the zipline.

We reminded this young lady that she was not defined by her bad choices, many born from the hurt she carries.

She was more than her pain.

More than her past.

More than her diagnosis.

I wanted to take her home with us, but that wasn’t possible. Instead, we hugged her and left with a promise to visit again. The next day I wrote her a letter.

Her future was still bright.

She was more than her present circumstances.

More than the cell which trapped her.

The letter has become my prayer for her and many others I know.

We are more than our negative self-talk.

More than the masks we wear.

More than the prison cells which trap us.

We are full of potential.

We are incredibly MORE.