Veronika's Voice--A talk she gave to her youth group, June 2014

Hi, my name is Veronika Brinkley and I am a 7^th grader here at West Houston.  My family and I moved here 7 years ago and I want to share the hardships I have gone through. 

I wasn’t born on this continent.  I was born in a little Russian village on the Baltic Sea called Zelenogradsk in Kaliningrad.  Here is a map of Russia and as you can see, the place where I am from is very small and outside of main Russia. 

 VIka and I are sisters from the same mother born 16 months apart.  Tragedy struck us when we were 2 and 3 years old.  We were left home alone in a building with no heat.  My crib was pushed close to the stove, the oven was turned on and the door was open.  Somehow the flame from the oven started a fire.  Because I was so close, I was burned.  Vika was able to hide and was saved without any burns.  The result of this tragedy was Vika and I were placed in a rundown orphanage.

I was burned over 30% of my body and had surgeries in Russia but we don’t really know how many.  I want to explain scars to you.  You see as your bones grow, your skin grows also and that keeps everything in balance.  Burn scarred skin does not grow.  So as my bones grow, my skin fights and refuses to grow with it.  While in the orphanage in Russia, my scars had gotten very tight, but I will tell you more about that miracle later.  Here are some pictures of Vika and I in the orphanage.

We were adopted in November of 2004.  Here is a picture of my parents at court.  

 Vika and I had been through hard times and though things were better in our new family, I still had lots of challenges to face.  As soon as my parents got us home, they took us to doctors.  We knew I was burned and would have to have surgery because it was getting very hard for me to walk.  But we also found out that because of malnutrition, meaning I wasn’t fed properly, my bones were deformed.  My first year in my new family I had 4 surgeries.  I could not walk and my parents and sisters pulled me around in a wagon.  I am now 14 and have had a dozen surgeries, most have taken months to heal which has meant crutches, wheel chairs, and not being able move around on my own legs.

Some of you may look at me and think, oh her scars are weird.  But to me, they are not.  My scars remind me that God has taken care of me through some amazing things.  My scars are my beauty marks and God put them on me so I could see how He works in and with me.

You see I wasn’t supposed to be in that orphanage.  I wasn’t supposed to be with my sister.  I was supposed to be moved to another home away from her where I would not have been educated or ever had a chance to be adopted.  But God knew his plan for me.  Adoption from Russia is a very hard and long process—for most people it takes years.  From the day my parents applied to adopt us to the day we were in court officially adopted was 8 months.  That is unheard of in Russia—and a few weeks after our adoption, Russia closed the adoption doors and almost no kids were adopted in 2005.  But God knew what I needed and the director of the orphanage broke the law and sent our adoption agency my pictures and asked them to find us parents and on that same day, my parents paperwork came to the same desk.

Another miracle that happened during my first year and those 4 surgeries, the bills were very expensive and my mom was talking to the hospital to work out a payment plan for all of my bills when we received a letter giving me a grant to cover all of my medical expenses for the year 2005—which was huge miracle!  All of my medical bills were paid for!

As I grew and had a ton more surgeries, long recoveries, interrupted school and summers, it has not been easy.  Kids have said mean things about my scars and made fun of me.  They see me as being different and many kids don’t know what to say or do.  But I would love to tell you about my scars and my experiences—don’t get me wrong, it has been hard but God and my family and friends have helped along the way. 

When people hear I was adopted from Russia, they always have questions.  No I did not speak English when I got here and my parent knew very little Russian—spend a day trying to talk to someone who doesn’t understand you and see how hard that is!  I forgot most of my Russian language as I learned English but have recently attempted to relearn it.  I don’t remember much about Russia but I have pictures my family has taken and that helps me remember.  People also ask me about the orphanage.  It was not a good place.  It smelled bad, we wore the same clothes everyday for a week and we didn’t have basic things like baths, soap, toothbrushes, or sometimes toilet paper.  One of the most difficult things for Vika and I was learning to eat a variety of foods.  We were given mostly oatmeal and soups—rarely did we get fruits or milk or meat or fresh vegetables.  So when my parents brought us here—they gave us all these weird foods we had never tasted.  We were less then cooperative in eating them!  After class, Vika and I have brought our memory books and we can show them to you if you are interested.

My favorite musical artist is Mandisa.  She has 3 songs (actually more than that) that mean a whole lot to me.  One is ‘Stronger’.  It talks about trials can make us stronger and teaching you not to give up.  There are days when I want to give up.  But then I listen to her song “Overcomer’ and realize that God has already overcome it all for me.  I just need to rest my trust in His hands.  I want to read you some of the words from Mandisa’s song, Scars because explains how I feel.

These scars aren’t pretty
But they’re a part of me
And will not ever fade away
These marks tell a story
Of me down in the valley
And how You reached in with Your grace
And healed me

They remind me of Your faithfulness
And all You brought me through
They teach me that my brokenness
Is something You can use
They show me where I’ve been and
That I’m not there any more
That’s what scars are for

And then these words from “Overcomer”

You're an overcomer
Stay in the fight ‘til the final round
You're not going under
‘Cause God is holding you right now
You might be down for a moment
Feeling like it's hopeless
That's when He reminds You
That you're an overcomer
I am an overcomer!

Some of you in here may have scars as well.  They may be visible  where all can see like mine are or they may be scars on your heart.  Maybe someone has hurt you.  Maybe you have been betrayed and don’t think you can trust anyone.  I am telling you my story because I want you to know that GOD will take care of our struggles and scars, every scar will show you how He can heal you.

One of my favorite Bible stories takes place in 1 Samuel 16.  God is showing Samuel who He wants to be the next king of Israel.  Samuel sees all of the tough and most handsome sons of Jesse and thinks each one looks like he could be the King.  But God says no and brought in the youngest and smallest son, David.  And this is what he told Samuel:

 “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Our heart is what matters to God.  And people that only look at me and see scars will be missing out on knowing who I am.  I am a girl who loves to read, swim, play games, talk with friends and recently square dance.  I am a good listener and am a loyal friend.  We can all get so caught up in outward appearance’s we miss the wonders God has to offer.  And if you have scars, remember, they show you what God has brought you through—they don’t define who you are!