God has always been leading in my life. He’s been more than amazing. However, my breaking point was when my father died. He was the lead man in my life, and I loved him a lot. I can remember that day as if it was today. I was in foster care, because I was taken away from my mom for child abuse. When I received the message my father died, I screamed and yelled at God. I was angry at Him for what He had taken away from me. I pleaded with God to take my life, because I found no purpose in it without my dad.

However, I was wrong. God found much purpose in my life. Throughout my life I was in and out of foster homes, moving from one family to another, from one behavior center to another. To me, I was found worthless. I felt like no one wanted me and that no one cared. But I was wrong. To God I was priceless. To Him I mattered, and to Him I was worth His life.

When I was 12 years old the judge ordered my mother to completely stop seeing me and my two brothers. For a child who grew up with a poor relationship with her mom, I was very saddened. However, I never gave up on God. I knew He was there helping me along the way. He was the light of my path.

Eventually, in 2003, my grandparents George and Mary Moore took me under their wings. I was not a very easy child to raise, but they did it once with God’s help and they figured they could do it again with His help. They put me back in Mizpah Junior Academy as soon as they had the opportunity. I thought I would go directly to public school after finishing at Mizpah. But I was wrong. I was introduced to Indiana Academy when I went to a music festival, and I fell in love.

I begged my grandparents to send me to Indiana Academy (IA). They thought about it, and they agreed. They thought it would be better than growing up in the streets of Gary, Indiana. Then one day I found out that my grandparents were struggling to pay my academy bill. It broke my heart, so I begged them to take me out of school, but they never did.

I asked my grandpa, "Why do you send me to IA if you don’t have the money for it?"

And he said, "Because that’s where God wants you to be so that you can get a good Christian education and because I love you." Right then and there I knew God had a purpose for my life. Even though I might not have seen it, He was fulfilling it.

Jone'ce Griffin graduated from Indiana Academy in May. She attends the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church in East Chicago, Indiana. Next year Jone'ce plans to attend Kettering College of Medical Arts where she will study pediatric nursing.