BONUS: The Father’s Loving Pursuit of His Daughter

TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S SHOW

Life before foster care

Nicole Argo’s life before foster care was a chaotic environment of drugs and violence. Her birth father was murdered over a drug dispute before she was born. Her single mom made increasingly worse decisions that often left them with no food and clothes procured from the Salvation Army dumpster.

Nicole and her younger brother often felt the need to hide from the violent men in their biological mom’s life. One night, they had to lie on the floor to hide from a man who had recently been released from jail. The next morning, when Nicole went into her mother’s bedroom to tell her they were leaving for school, she found the man they had been hiding from with her mom.

The sense of hopelessness exhausted seven-year-old Nicole. She went into the bedroom and sat on the window sill, thinking to herself that there wouldn’t be anymore pain if she fell off the edge. She thought, “I’m not seen, not important. This won’t matter.”

But then she heard in her soul a voice that said, “I see you. I will make it right.” Nicole says, “I didn’t know at the time who was speaking to my soul, but I knew there was hope.” Soon after this incident, she and her brother entered the foster care system.

Life in foster care

Unfortunately, entering the system brought more trauma—there were no homes available, so she and her brother were sent to a children’s home. There, they were separated, which was devastating for her because even at seven, she had been his caretaker, as well as her mom’s caretaker.

For the next three years, she was in and out of homes in the foster care system. Finally, she arrived at what was to be her final foster home. This change also included a change in schools, where she was teased because she didn’t have the same last name as her foster mother.

Finally, she asked the teacher if she could tell her story. Her teacher, knowing Nicole’s background, allowed her to do this. Nicole stood before here class and told them she was a foster child, but that she wasn’t that different from them. After telling her story, she made new friends. “One of my classmates told me I was so brave for telling my story,” she says.

Continuing to tell her story

Now, as a pastor’s wife, mother of two and professional photographer, Nicole continues to tell her story. “Everyone has a story,” she says. “No matter what, God has His fingerprints on your life.” The important thing is to be vulnerable enough to share your story. “Telling my story is a way to bring glory to God and tell Satan he did not win.”