Sionna Brenn has had a tough life, but she has relied on hard work and strong faith to make the most of it.
Brenn, a senior at Willowridge High School in Pearland, Texas, was adopted from Ethiopia by an American family. This sounds like a good thing, but unfortunately, her adoptive family didn’t treat her well.
“In the deepest shadows it was very abusive. Families were very harsh but I’ve overcome it through His power.”
When the abuse became too much, Brenn had to leave her adoptive parents, but she wasn’t about to fall through the cracks. She got herself a job at Starbucks and kept attending high school.
Even though she is homeless, she is graduating with honors and has earned a scholarship to the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she plans to study dentistry.
Behind This Door … A New Car!
Brenn’s hard work and strong faith got her through—and through them, she earned a completely unexpected reward.She stepped out the back door of Starbucks to take the trash to the dumpster, and there stood a man with a handful of balloons. While Brenn was puzzling over what this might mean, up drove a brand new black Toyota Celica wrapped in a huge red bow.
The man was Charlie Jabaley, who made his fortune in the music industry before branching out into the business of fulfilling dreams. And the car—it was Brenn’s—a gift, to help ease her tough life.
“It’s more than a dream. It’s crazy,” Sionna Brenn told Fox, laughing through tears of joy.
“More than anything, glory to God because I wouldn’t be here without Him,” she cried.
Traveling Dream Fulfillment
Charley Jabaley used to manage the rapper 2 Chainz until he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.The diagnosis was a wake-up call. Jabaley left the music business and created the Dream Machine Tour.
Jabaley rides a brightly painted bus from town to town each night. Each day, he bicycles through a different town, looking for people who need help fulfilling their dreams.
“Everywhere we go, we’re looking for people who have dreams and how we can help them,” Jabaley explained.
When he reached parkland and heard about Sionna Brenn and her travails, Jabaley decided she could use a new car—and driving lessons. He paid for both.
“I think I’m in a dream right now,” Brenn said, as she wrote her next dream on the side of the Dream machine bus.
That dream? Not to get rich as a dentist, or to find a boyfriend, or even to be popular at school.
Breen’s ultimate dream: to “Reach the world with the gospel of Christ.”
Sounds like she will be putting a lot of miles on that Toyota.
