Sharing his heart

Last night I was sitting outside on our little loveseat.  It was a beautiful summer night with a light breeze blowing.  Andrew came home from riding his bike and sat down next to me.  We spent the next three hours talking and doing iTranslate. We laughed, we cried and he shared his heart with a little prompting from the mom. And I did a lot of listening.

I know this young boy has a lot of hurts burried down underneath all the smiles. We talked about how he likes to be funny and he loves humor. We talked about how he covers up those hurts with the humor and how the Lord wants to heal him of his hurts.

We talked about his family.  The great grandmother who raised him until she died when he was 10. We talked about his birth mother, her drinking and being unkind to him.  He talked about going to the orphanage when he was only 11 and how the bigger boys would beat him.  He told me his great grandmother loved God and would tell him Bible stories. He told me there was no love at the orphanage.

Yes, we did cry.  It's good to get those hurts out so you can be healed. If you keep a wound covered up it can't heal.  When you uncover it, it starts healing.  That's what Andrew is learning. It's little by little. There's so much more in him and it will take time for it to all come out.  But now he knows this mama is here to stay and she loves him to the moon and back.

After our three hours, Andrew came in the house and told Madison, "Three hours talk to mother. Pour out heart. Very good."  He doesn't call me mom.  He calls me Ms. Hansina. I've known it will take him time to call me mom.  He will only do it when he's ready and he means it. After our talk he knocked on my bedroom door and said, "Mom, I need towel."  He called me MOM!  My heart melted!  In the morning it was "mom, mom, mom!!!" I asked him if he was okay calling me mom.  He said, "Yes! You my mom." There are no words to tell you all how much Mark and I love this boy.

This reminds me so much of the love of our Father.  How He wants us to tell him our hurts so He can heal us.  He loves us unconditionally. He is there to correct us and point us back in the right direction. He adopted us first. How great is the love of our God!  Lord, thank you for healing my own hurts.  Thank you for giving me wisodm on how to talk and listen to Andrew. Thank you for your love so that I am able to love others. Thank you most of all for my sweet son, Andrew.