Gò0dNews for Life
Bound By Love by Evie West
I
came to Cleveland on January 8, 1996. It was never my plan;
we arrived home to our small apartment only to find a bag of
in fact, it was sort of against my will. I was a teenager, recently
popcorn and a few ounces of milk. I would have to get through
graduated from high school with a 2-year-old son and a life
the weekend with no food. I was embarrassed, afraid, and
that had spiraled out of control. Cleveland was the last hope my
anxious. I popped the popcorn, gave my son the last bit of milk,
parents had to save my life. The trip to LAX was a quiet one, and
put him in bed, and sat against my wall in my small living room.
when the gate agent began to board the plane with passengers, I
I cried until I was too tired to cry anymore. The next morning,
didn’t even bother to give my parents a second look goodbye. I
I devised a plan to take my son to the park to play so he would
was angry, and they were sad.
forget about breakfast. Hungry and tired, I brushed his teeth,
Five hours later, I landed in Atlanta, Georgia, and began my
combed his hair, and put on his sweatshirt. I talked about the park
commute to my new home. Six weeks had passed, and I was
and the fun we would have, the whole time worrying about how
settling into an unfurnished apartment on 4th Street NW. I seemed
I would feed my son that day. I took his hand, walked across the
to adjust quickly to my new groove as a Lee College student,
living room, and opened the door to six full bags of groceries.
although I was different than the traditional student. As much as I
Bread, peanut butter, milk, eggs, pancake mix, fruit, cheese,
wanted to be a normal teenage student who lived on campus, the
and oatmeal were just a few of the things that filled the bags. At
reality was, I was a single mom who had a 2-year-old. So I stayed
the time, I was so humbled to receive the gift of food, but as I
on campus as late as I could and then would walk the half mile
have gotten older, I have realized that the greater gift is for the
back to my apartment to put my son in bed. One Friday night,
giver. Imagine being the one obedient to the voice of the Father to shop for a teenager and her son so early in the morning! Imagine canceling your plans because He has something different for you to do today! Imagine forfeiting sleep to get up to grocery
shop so when a hungry, young mother opens her door for the day, she is encountered by love. There was no obligation, no contract, and no payback, yet His love for me bounded me to
22 // March 2020
About The Author
Him forever.
Evie West, originally from Southern California, came to Cleveland in 1996 to attend Lee College. Since her graduation, she has served the City of Cleveland as a police officer. In 2016, Evie was promoted to the rank of Sergeant over the Community Relations Unit. She recently obtained her Master’s degree in Public Safety from Tennessee Technological University.
