"My Story" Tuesday: Tara Stark's Story

Note from Anne: This story is especially wonderful to me because Tara is my granddaughter. This is only a small part of the harrowing story of when the kids were taken from her under some very strange conditions. It still makes me wonder why the officials came, and why they took the kids. Tara had been under a doctor's orders to take it easy after major surgery, and she had not been able to clean house for two weeks. Tara was and is a caring and responsible mother--she has never neglected or maltreated her children.

Tara: I was 19 and the mother of two wonderful children. Child Protection Services came to my house because they had a call about another house where I had been within the previous 48 hours, and from what little they told me it was BAD over there. My little brother had been living in that house with another guy and his girlfriend, and he sought by the CPS.

I wasn't respectful to the officers, and they arrested me. My children were taken away and placed in foster care. I was in jail for five days on suicide watch in solitary confinement. They were afraid I would kill myself, because I told the social worker if she took my kids she took my reason for living. I guess they had cause to put me where I was. I also assume that was the reason that Jesus came to see me in the cell at the lowest point in my life.
　
I was sitting on the bed reading a book, even though I was much deeper into my own thoughts and pain than I was into the book. I got this weird feeling that someone was watching me, and I thought it was a guard doing head count.

I looked up, and there was no guard. What I saw was the most beautiful sight in the world. Jesus stood in front of the door, His arms open, and He walked toward me. I had been alone for 23 hours a day for 3 days, and I thought that I was going nuts from being alone and without my children.

In my weakest moment He took me in His arms and whispered in my ear, "I am your Reason, hold onto Me." I clung to him for dear life, and I knew would be all right. I knew, too, He had my children in His arms where they were safe, and I was, too. I have held tight to Him since. I know that even if I wander, He is never too far.