This afternnon I´d planned to go for a walk, do some shopping and check my mail. Ceci invited me to do a house visit with her after we´d walked to the post office. But she spent ages on the phone so I had to give up going on my walk. On the way Ceci was looking up bible verses and I suggested Romans 8V 38 but in spite of that I was feeling distinctly grumpy on the bus especially when we arrived and Ceci met another lady who was visiting with her, what was the point in dragging me along?
We went in and met the lady; her son is a serious drug addict. He´s gone into rehab voluntarily but still somehow holds his mum responsible. It was so hard! The poor woman was in a dreaful state, just listening to her made me want to cry, watching someone suffer is so difficult. Is her son a troubled and broken man or is he arrogant and selfish? I don´t know, probably a mix of both. Whatever the answer is, his mother is wretched. She seemed so tired and broken hearted. She cried while she told us how he refused to hug her (and his wife) goodbye yesterday when they visited. How can he be so bitter? He is only 20something and has a pretty&sensible wife, a gorgeous 18 month old daughter and a mother who adores him-it´s such a waste!
It turned out the other lady who joined was just starting out on "visiting" duties and didn´t know what to do yet. I´m sorry to be depressing but this afternoon was emotional. On the bright side, the woman hasn´t abandoned her faith which is great. Ceci ended up sharing the passage I´d suggested ( I had a WORD from God?! seriously?) and talked then we all prayed together. I´m happy to say the woman did seem to take comfort from the verses and prayers.
A very powerful story and a very powerful verse. God's love is remarkable. Hopefully, this poor lady gained some comfort from hearing God's Word.
ReplyDeleteI think the lady's son is definitely broken but it does sound as though he is incredibly selfish too. The issue of trying to see people through God's eyes is one of my biggest struggles. I can't help but judge at times. But God has granted us the capacity to understand right from wrong even though many situations are not black and white.
We can only hope and pray that in our faith and our witness for Christ, we go about things the right way. We can only hope that we are privileged enough to help in situations where people are broken so that they might be healed and their relationships with each other may be restored. This young man needs that healing and restoration as much as his mother, wife and young child do. But it's hard seeing the effects of sin in this way and knowing that God's grace extends to a person who is actively harming himself and his family. But we all need God's grace, don't we? A very sobering thought.