Larissa Trust as two sons aged 13 and 11 and a daughter aged 9. All three of her children have severe learning difficulties, the two boys have autism, and her daughter has a rare genetic condition. Larissa considers herself to be, ‘living proof that you don’t have to have a conventional family life to be recommended for and complete ministerial training.’
When her first child was a year old, Larissa began to explore the possibility of ordination. The initial testing of her vocation, she feels, ran parallel to receiving diagnoses for all three children. "Somehow these two parts of my life complimented each other well’.
“I think the children’s diagnoses have gone hand in hand with my faith, and strengthened it rather than detracted from it, even though some of the challenges have been quite significant. I feel that God’s always been there, enabling me to cope. And certainly, some of the practical challenges prompted some vocation related doubts at times, but they have also strengthened me spiritually.
“I feel that God has always been walking alongside me. It was so important to depend on God through the process of diagnosis, in the face of some of the practical challenges and the strained relationships. It was crucial to hold on to my relationship with God and to trust and depend on Him.”
Between 2013 and 2015, following a particularly abrupt halt to her vocation journey, Larissa and her husband felt drawn by God to move to Weston-super-Mare – which they had never even visited before. After much prayer and consideration, they relocated. Larissa says that despite the difficulties she’s faced, and some setbacks along the way, she has always ‘retained a strong sense of call’. She will serve her curacy at Christ Church and Emmanuel, Weston super Mare.