Love That Stays: A Message from Vanna
Love can feel complicated when your story has been complicated.
For many of us who have experienced foster care, instability, or aging out without the safety nets that others may take for granted, February doesn’t always feel loving or welcoming. When the world talks about love in flowers, big family and grand gestures, it can quietly stir up the places where love may have felt temporary, conditional, or unfinished.
I’ve come to learn that being loved isn’t always loud. It isn’t always romantic. And it isn’t always easy to recognize.
Sometimes being loved looks like consistency. Someone showing up for you when they said that they would. Someone believing in your future when you’re still unsure of it yourself. Someone reminding you that your dreams indeed do matter.
Growing up in systems can make love feel transactional. If you do well, you’re praised. If you struggle, then things shift. Over time, that can shape how you see yourself, and what you believe you deserve.
But here’s something I’ve had to relearn: Being loved isn’t something you earn. It isn’t something you perform for. It isn’t reserved for a “better” version of you.
It’s something that can exist even in the middle of your unfinished story.
In Romans 8:38–39, it says, “…that nothing, not hardship, not fear, not our past, not even our doubts, can separate us from the love of God”. For those of us who have experienced separation in so many other ways, that promise feels especially significant. It speaks to a kind of love that doesn’t withdraw when life gets complicated. A love that stays.
And maybe that’s what being loved really means: not having a perfect story, but knowing you are not invisible inside of it.
Being loved doesn’t erase the hard parts of your story. But it does remind you that those hard parts don’t define your worth.
This month, whether love feels close to you or complicated, I hope you remember: You are not forgotten. You are not too much. You are not behind. You are worthy of a love that is steady, healthy, and real. We see you. A love that begins within yourself and flows outwards to others. You are deeply loved, cherished, and irreplaceable.
Vanna Embertson
Former Foster Youth
and Dream Recipient
Keep this prayer graphic as an encouragement by right-clicking and saving it to your photos!
Sign up below for our former foster youth newsletter: