Jennifer Adams

Title Grateful Patient
Company Baptist Health
Location Richmond
Initiated By:
Initiated by Baptist Health

Jennifer Adams has faced a tremendous amount of trauma, but she’s a survivor — and for that she is grateful. “Having survived child abuse, then 11 years of abuse at the hands of my daughter’s father, and being homeless when we escaped, it’s easy to find gratitude,” she says. “It’s all around us, every day.”

Trauma can make you bitter or grateful, Jennifer believes, and she’s chosen the latter: She’s grateful for the tutoring program that helped her get her GED, for the junky old car that carried her to safety, for relatives who provided shelter when she was homeless, for the nonprofit that helped her get back on her feet, and for her husband: “He is my best friend and he loves my daughter as his own. Our marriage is founded on respect and boundaries, something I had never experienced before.”

Due to what she calls the “unfortunate societal stigma” attached to behavioral health, it took years before Jennifer sought help with healing the wounds of her past. But she’s grateful that she’s now healing and living her truth, thanks in large part to the care she’s received at Baptist Health — a place where she immediately sensed a genuine concern for her wellbeing.

“Gratitude can be found everywhere. It’s just a matter of perspective. Most of us have experienced difficulties in life. Disappointment, heartache, grief and trauma are the catalysts that either break us or drive us to overcome and persevere.”

Jennifer says she’s candid about her life story because: “Without knowing the extent of what the Lord has delivered me from, I feel you could never grasp just how grateful I am for being delivered from it. I am most grateful for the peace and joy I have found in placing my trust in Jesus Christ and that He is able to restore everything that was once broken.”

Gratitude can be found everywhere. It’s just a matter of perspective.