By ANDREW HANSEN
      Editor

The following story appeared in the documentary, God is Alive, Part 2, produced by the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and which premiered earlier this year.

Alma Pederson, formerly of Edwardsville, grew up in Mexico. Her life as a child was anything but what a child should experience — joy and being loved. Her dad was an alcoholic, her dad would hit her mom, the family didn’t have money, she slept on the floor with no pillows, she had no toys, and her mom said this to her: “I was little and she told me three times, ‘I don’t love you’ because I looked like my dad,” Pederson said.

Pederson dreamed of becoming a nurse, but that dream was shattered, only going to school through third grade. She was needed at home to help raise her siblings. At 11 years old, her family moved to the U.S. She told her dad she wanted to learn English, but he refused to let her.

However, things only got worse. At 17, Alma’s boyfriend drugged her and then raped her. She became pregnant. Her mom wouldn’t talk to her, calling Alma a prostitute. Alma chose life for her child. Then, years later, she received a call one day saying her dad was trying to molest her sister.

“What hurt me so much was my dad because my dad was everything to me. It was really painful at that moment,” Pederson said.

Pederson admits during this time in her life she wasn’t praying. Despite being raised Catholic, going to Mass wasn’t part of her life either, focusing so much on the problems of her life. Saying she always loved God, she decided to go on a weekend retreat. That’s when she said the Holy Spirit started moving in her especially during one providential moment.  

“That night, I was asking God for forgiveness for all my faults, the mistakes I made, and all my sins,” Pederson said. “I was praying the Prayer of St. Francis. That’s when I had my deliverance. I fell down on the floor. I was screaming so hard. It came all the way down from my stomach. It felt like something came out of my stomach. I screamed so hard and that was it. Done.”

That weekend of deliverance was a fresh start for Alma and her faith journey, turning to prayer constantly. She then did something most couldn’t do. She forgave her father for being abusive, her mother for not loving her, and her boyfriend for raping her, and came to peace with the other difficult circumstances of her upbringing.

“We’re born with that gift to forgive, and I think the Holy Spirit was helping me do it without me even knowing,” she said. “We pray the Our Father and ask for forgiveness, so how can we not forgive?”

Today, Alma is married with children and is active in the Catholic Church (she was previously a parishioner at St. Boniface Parish in Edwardsville, before moving to Texas earlier this year). 

What advice does Pederson have for someone who is having a hard time accepting suffering or turning to God and trusting in God in the midst of problems? “It’s not easy sometimes. Sometimes you are going to cry, but if we see Jesus as our example, how He suffered, and He said nothing, and how He still loves. How Mary suffered with Him. Seeing her Son and how they treated Him. So, why can’t we do that? It’s a way to get to God. A way to get to eternity. To happiness.”

When asked if she wishes her life growing up was different after experiencing so many difficulties and betrayal, she says, “No, I would not change anything in my life.

“That was how I came to know Jesus, and how I met Him, through the things I went through,” she said. “Not having food to eat, not having a toy, not having a bed, not having someone to talk to you, and they reject you. They do so many bad things to you, but do you know what? Jesus is there to hug you. He gave me so much. The most important thing He gave me is His love, and I can feel it, and I can feel it every single day. So, no, I would not change anything. I loved my life the way it was.”

Watch Elma’s story in God is Alive Part 2: