Hold My Hand

"Mommy, I need your hand!" "Why?" I queried, "You seem to be keeping up okay." "But you let go of my hand and I don't think I can keep going without your hand." Her little six year old legs had already walked a mile and a half with me, only half a mile to go, but she was getting tired. As I took her hand in mind it made me think of the journey we are on with our RAD son. There have been many days lately where I don't feel like I can take one more step. I told God right then and there that I'm just like my little girl, I need to hold His hand if I'm going to make it all the way. Today He encouraged me through phone calls from two unexpected places. Both of the gentlemen who called reminded me that kids his age need to know you love them no matter what, that he is pushing all the boundaries to see if we'll go the distance with him. They reminded me that this too shall pass and on the other side he might even thank us for sticking in there with him. I was reminded of a friend with whom we prayed for years and years when her sons were this age and they strayed far away for a long time and now are back where they belong, wrapped in glory and doing well. I was reminded to remember the positive things. Our situation could be a lot worse if we still lived in the city. He is almost 14 and many kids with his type of challenges are already in juvenile halls by the time they are 12. He doesn't have some of the issues that many kids similar to him have. There are things to be thankful for. So today I'm saying, "Daddy don't you let go of my hand, I know we've got some tough pieces of road ahead yet, hold me tight and don't let go."