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The Mother Load

For the third time in three weeks an ambulance showed up at my neighbor's home across the street. The other two times my neighbor was mysteriously taken to the hospital. But Sunday night the EMT called the police. It seems the woman was having a nervous breakdown and was very paranoid. The police made it clear she could go with or without handcuffs. All of her children were there watching. From my backyard I could hear my neighbor in her home screaming. It was a horrible sound.

In an instant the screams of my neighbor took me back to the screams of my childhood. With amazing clarity I recalled Jon Jones arriving very early one morning at my home. Then the police came with a court order to put my mom in the mental hospital. She physically resisted and eventually I saw my mom handcuffed and taken away screaming. I remember how scared she looked. I knew I needed to take care of Jeana, Joel, and Jana. I hoped this time would be different and my mommy would come home fixed. For just a few moments this last Sunday night I became that young girl watching her mother taken away in handcuffs while her daddy wept and keep asking all of us if he had done the right thing.

Snap! Katie Beth walked into the backyard and asked me a question. I stopped being that scared little girl and became her mom. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Then I began praying silently. I am so thankful for God's faithfulness in my life. So many of the plans the enemy had for my family have been defeated. In the last 6 years he has restored my mother's mental health. This has allowed us to have a warm loving relationship. God has revealed her true nature by allowing me to watch her tenderly interact with her grandaughter. She has spoken words of blessing to replace the lies the enemy spoke though her. And this early experience taught me to depend on Him alone. He has and is and will sustain me.
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