Healing Together

               

Anytime a new child enters our home, we know that with their few personal items (if any) they will also bring with them a great deal of pain and emotion.  We don’t always know much about each child, but we know that they are in our home because of some very horrible things they have experienced.  A child may come to us because of neglect, substance abuse in the home, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and so on.  We have no control over what they have gone through or how they will respond, but we have the chance and the choice to love them and provide them with a family situation, even if only temporary, that they deserve to experience.

Some of our foster children have experienced horrible things at young ages. Some of them have been lucky enough to have been removed before anything too tragic could happen to them.  Each child brings with them a new set of raw emotions and pain.  In loving them and caring for them, you can’t help but hurt with them.  Last weekend we could tell B was having a hard day. The pain of his past was very present in his eyes.  As a 9 year old boy it is very confusing and painful remembering the circumstances that placed him in state care many years ago.  What a challenge it is for a 9 year old to try and understand why he is in a new home after many years in another home prior to ours, or why his own biological parents aren’t able to care for him.  B’s past is his story to share if he ever chooses to with people in his life.  However, his story is also the story that brought him into our hearts and our home forever.

As we sat down with him and he opened up, sharing the wounds of his heart, I could feel my heart crying.  I may not have experienced what he went through, what he feels, etc….. but I am his mom and what he went through is my burden as well.  Although I have only been his mom for a few short months, I claimed him the moment I laid eyes on his profile. That day he became mine forever.  I love this boy and my heart wants nothing more than to protect him and take away the pain he feels.  I know he is happy to have a forever family, I know we are bonding and he is learning to love us as mom and dad.  That joy does not take away the pain he will feel for the rest of his life as he processes the series of events that he has experienced, as he questions the choices of the past adults in his life. 

B is my oldest son, my newest child, and as we embark on this journey of being a forever family, I will hurt with him.  I will experience his pain with him and be there for him like no one has before.  We will hurt together and we will heal together.

Lord, I lift up my son to you. I pray that you embrace him and comfort him each day of his life. I pray that you enable the healing of his heart and that Thad and I have the wisdom to address his pain in an effective and loving way.  I thank you for choosing B for us and us for him.  We love him so much and are thankful that you love him even more. May his life’s experiences be used to glorify you, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, Amen