Six-year-old Alan, an orphan, sat in church one day, crying and begging God for his mother. He yearned to be with her, feeling alone and neglected at the foster home, where the other kids taunted him. His guardian, Nancy, told him to be quiet, but Alan’s cries echoed through the church. In his desperation, he asked God to send his mother to him.

Just then, a voice from behind spoke, “I’ll take you.” Startled, Alan and Nancy turned to see a woman with a child—she introduced herself as Annette, Alan’s mother. Annette explained that she had abandoned him at the shelter six years ago, unable to care for him at the time, but she had never forgotten him.

Annette shared her painful past: at 16, she had been abandoned by her boyfriend and pressured by her parents to leave the baby. After finishing college and starting a family with another man, she never stopped thinking about Alan. When she heard his cries, she couldn’t stay away any longer.

Annette legally regained custody of Alan, but the reunion came at a cost. Her parents disowned her, and her husband, Jason, filed for divorce. Annette, now with her two children, moved abroad, starting a new life free of her past. Despite the losses, she felt her life was finally complete, surrounded by the love of her children.