Ginny Biada Memorial Scholarship

I was a little girl of seven years old when I walked into my biological mother's room. As she lay there, lifeless with gray lips, I recognized the young woman - still barely past her early 30s - with so much life ahead of her. I then felt the weight of the world upon my shoulders soon after I heard my younger sister's piercing cry from down the hall. After picking her up, attempting to wake my mother up for the last time, and then trekking my way to a neighbor's house to seek help - my world changed permanently. Fast-forward many years later, I soon blossomed into an awkward pre-teen searching desperately to find myself. In walked my mother (the woman my father remarried), bright-eyed and beautiful. Little did she know, my chaotic self would attempt to have her running for the hills. I was angry, hurt, and bitter as a child, feeling as if I was abandoned by my biological mother and left to discover womanhood by myself which left me untrusting of other motherly figures. Spoiler alert, she never did run. She stood firm against me, like a house against a raging hurricane. Her discipline and love were something I had never experienced in a motherly figure but desperately needed during my growth into womanhood. She cared and loved me deeper than I knew a mother could, keeping her foot down without bending to my manipulative tactics yet also holding me as I broke down in her arms. She so vividly painted the picture of God's love for me before I could understand it, which made way for the most impactful thing she could have ever done. She led me and my father to the Lord Jesus Christ. My mother spent countless hours with me explaining the Bible and praying over me. I watched her life and how her faith impacted her marriage to my father. I watched how she prayed blessings over the house we lived in, rebuking anything not of the Lord and bringing peace. Her actions spoke louder than words. Without my mother, Li-H'sien (pronounced Lee-shen), I would have been on a completely different track and most certainly not pursuing a bachelor's degree in biblical studies, desiring the Lord to use my life for His greater glory. Her heart for others taught me how to have a heart for the voiceless and the hopeless. It stirred within me to want to become a missionary to reach those hidden either by war, destruction, or fear. It led me to truly find the Lord with all that I am and embark on an adventure of falling in love with Jesus. From a patient, unyielding attitude, she persevered past my destructive behaviors and showed me a better reality, one rooted in Jesus Christ. Her many, many, MANY silent prayers prepared my heart for the Lord to pierce it with truth. I am beyond grateful to my authentically unselfish mother who devotes herself with a cheerful heart first to God, her family, and the patients under her care at the hospital she works in.

My mom is one of the strongest people I know. Not only has she helped to raise four kids, I am the youngest of the four, but she was the primary caregiver for my dad when he was diagnosed with ALS. ALS is a terminal disease that takes away all of your independence. Dad was diagnosed in July 2018 and died in July 2020. Mom was a rock the entire time. It was incredibly hard for her to be a caregiver 24/7 for over a year, but she didn't complain, and they continued to attend every activity we participated in. This meant lugging the handicapped van with my dad in a wheelchair everywhere. Mom was raised in a Christian home and made sure that we were taught the Bible stories, our faith in God, and morals that exhibited Christ. We have all been grieving for the last 2.5 years, but again, mom is always there for us whenever we need to talk, cry, or laugh. She continues to travel the country to be at our events. She works part-time at several jobs to keep three of us in college this year. She has shown me how to be a Christian and a young woman. I have been diagnosed with learning disabilities, and she continued to homeschool all of us. When academics got hard for me, she found ways to make it work. She never gave up on me. Last year, she helped the audiologist find that I had Auditory Processing Disorder, and she paid for my hearing aids. This has enabled me to focus more on what I hear and to learn better. My brain needed to be retrained, and she studied how to help me in my academics best to tutor me, in addition to my regular homeschool curriculum. She went way over the normal to ensure I was getting all of my needs met. She is a mentor and a wonderful mother. ALS is an expensive disease and any financial help would be appreciated for my education. It would help me and be a gift that I could give back to her after helping me so much all of my life. I want to take all I have learned and endured to work with orphans after finishing my social work degree. The skills my mom modeled for me and taught me will be useful. I am thankful God gave me a mom like her. Life has been tough for all of us, but we never gave up, and we knew God would give us a way. Thank you for reading about my mom.

My mother has impacted me in many significant ways. Her greatest impact on my life is how she loves her family. She honestly sounds much like Mrs. Ginny was. My mom loves through service predominately. She is not always the most affectionate or vocal about her feelings, but you always knew she loved you by the way she took care of you. She is the epitome of Philippians 2:3-4(NKJV), “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." Now as an adult, I can reflect back on my childhood with so much appreciation and thankfulness for just how much she served her family and mostly in ways that would never be seen or acknowledged. She never asked for recognition or validation for her efforts. She served purely out of the love in her heart for her family and her Lord. I feel very spoiled that I was able to grow up so consumed by love from such a selfless person. She never stops finding ways to take care of us. Even though I am grown and out of the house, she continues to find ways to bless me. She will randomly drop off groceries, buy me things she knows I don't have the money for, or bring me leftovers at work because she somehow knew by the tone in my voice that I had a rough morning. I always wondered if there was anything that I could do to make her run out of love, because surely everyone has their limits and no one could so wholeheartedly take care of another person so consistently. But she never gave up on me, no matter how difficult of a teenager I was or how independent I think I need to be as an adult. Her love for me never ran out, for which I am eternally blessed because of and am in no way deserving of. In truth, my mother is the purest form of Christ love that I have ever experienced on this earth. I don’t believe anything will compare to that fierce love and affection other than from Jesus Himself. I hope to be half of the mother and woman that my mom is and half of the woman of faith that she is. A mother’s love is the most authentic example of Christ’s love for His children. Love of which we are so undeserving but so in need of. I am a better person because of my mother’s love and because of the love of my Jesus that remains an constant driving force inside of her. Thank you for helping me remember just how blessed I am and how wonderfully special my mom is. I hope to not need a essay prompt in the future to be reminded of the precious treasure Ive been given.