Episode 279 - Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care with Tori Hope Petersen

Jul 6

What do we do with the messages that imprint themselves on our souls from our earliest memories? How do we overcome the most difficult parts of our story when our circumstances seemingly want to make us a statistic?

For author, speaker and advocate Tori Hope Petersen, growing up in an abusive home and entering the foster care system at a young age made her start to believe that her life didn't matter. But somehow in the midst of the darkest moments, God met her and showed her His unfailing love in the face of people's failures to love and care for her and that her life had a greater purpose. Since that season, Tori has written about her experience through the system in her book, Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care and has become an advocate for others. She is also now a mom, undoing the brokenness from her family of origin and creating a beautiful tapestry called family through biological, adoption and foster parenting.

In this important conversation, Aubrey sits with Tori to discuss the questions that can come when you're wrestling through a life riddled with pain, the value of community in healing from our trauma, and how the Church can become the foundation for care and love for those in the foster care system.

Whether or not your life has been touched by foster care, this episode will remind you that no matter the messages you received as a child, God's message for you is clear: you are dearly loved and none of your pain is ever wasted.