Meet “Shannon Barbosa”
Meet Shannon, a forty year old Christian woman, wife, mother, youth director, writer, speaker and founder of From the Ruins. From the Ruins is a ministry that longs to help hurting and grieving people to find hope in their brokenness. This organization helps people who are dealing with loss in many practical ways. Shannon and her family became acquainted with grief first hand in 2013, when she and her husband lost their oldest son in a car accident. At first, Shannon thought losing her 18 year old son tragically would be the hardest thing she would ever go through. It turns out that actually having to live each day without him has proven much harder. Writing has played a vital role in Shannon’s healing. After her son passed, she went to Rhode Island College and received her B.A. in English. Shannon writes with complete transparency and believes that being real is the only way to be. You will see this all throughout her writing. The Lord is near to the broken hearted. It is Him alone who holds the power to restore, therefore faking it is a waste of time and only hinders the healing process. Whether you’ve experienced physical loss of a loved on or you’ve suffered a relational loss, whether you’ve lost your home, or your job, or your health is suffering – this site is for you. We’ve all experienced loss of some kind, therefore we’ve all known grief. Please find healing here within these pages, and know that hope can always be found – even from the ruins. Be on the lookout for speaking engagements at local churches throughout Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts.
“Shannon’s Faith Story”
When I first gave my life to the Lord, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I was twenty years old, with no religious background other than a handful of Catholic masses I attended with my paternal grandparents. My dad left when I was two and a half, and
I had experienced a lot of heartache for such a young girl.
By the time I had entered into my teenage years, I had given up on God. I couldn’t understand, if there was a God, why He would allow so much pain in my life. This led me to conclude, once and for all, that God did not exist.
Even though I denied Him, He never stopped pursuing me. He put people in my path regularly to invite me to church and to share about His goodness and love. Finally, after many invitations, I agreed to attend an Easter Service. Truly, it was just out of obligation and a hope that the invites would let up for a while. To my surprise, I was overcome with emotion as I made my way to my seat. I had never felt anything like it before. As the pastor spoke, it was as if God had used him to read a personal love letter to addressed only to me.
At the end of the service, I responded to his invitation to receive Christ into my life. I had never felt so loved or embraced in all my life.
Psalm 68 refers to God as a father to the fatherless. That is exactly what God became to me that day. That is what He wants to become to you. Whether you have the most amazing earthly father or yours is one of the dads that walked out. Maybe your dad was physically present, but emotionally absent. No matter what the case, God desires to be your Heavenly Father. He wants you to run toward Him and not away from Him. He wants to wrap you in His loving arms.
No matter what you have done, God calls you His child. He delights in you and takes so much pleasure in being your Daddy.