Encouragement

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By: Rick Flowers


It began quite unexpectedly
With a search for family long ago lost
People he hadn’t seen in so long
And mentally, he had paid the cost

For years he had wondered how they were
And saw them only frequently throughout the years
He had denied missing them and even wanting to know them
But at the same time had shed many tears

He had grown up very poor as far as material things went
Wore hand me down clothes and sat on hand me down furniture
Experienced many years of mental and physical abuse
So much pain he had endured

The family had not been blessed with much in most people’s eyes
The house didn’t have running water or indoor plumbing
The porch was rotted and the only heat was an old wood stove
The walls were unpainted and the floors were crumbling

The only parent in the home was his mother
His father had left many years ago
She was left to raise 6 kids all by herself
How she would do it she didn’t know

Somewhere along the way God intervened
His mother got a job at the church as a nursery worker
She remained there for the next 17 years
But over that time, he had to shed many tears

Most of his life was lived in fear never knowing what she would do
At church as the nursery worker she was one person and at home another
It was very confusing for a small child
But at least they were all together

He could only imagine how his being abused affected his brothers and sisters
They sort of stood in the sideline thankful I guess that it wasn’t them
They never said anything and never tried to intervene
But then they never knew when it would happen, she did it on a whim.



Besides, what could they have done?
What could anyone have said?
And who knows if they had what would have happened
Who knows where it would have led

And then as years went by
His younger sister got older
His mother started on her
And it seemed to be much colder

He was old enough now but too afraid to defend her
To step in and protect her from his mothers wrath
So on it went for years and years
No one stepped into her path

Eventually his sister married to escape the pain
She moved out on her own, pretended to be happy and free
But when all was said and done it didn’t last
It wasn’t meant to be

This is only the beginning of the story
There’s so much more to tell
For he was never alone in that house
Even in the midst of all that hell

God had sent an angel
He knew that it was there
Things could have turned out so much worse
If the angel hadn’t been there

He became the person he is today
Because of what he went through
He was strong and determined and unrelenting
He got what he wanted and did what he wanted to do

And with that said I’ll end this part
Of a story yet untold
For the blessings of his house
Will soon begin to unfold

This thought for the day is a bit personal. It is a story told for the therapeutic qualities it will hopefully deliver. It is a story of the horrors of one’s upbringing and hasn’t even begun to touch on the things that really happened to his life. It hasn’t even begun to touch on the blessings received even in the midst of all the turmoil and heartache. In the midst of all the hate for what he was having to go through, in the midst of all the fear he had to live with each day of his life, in the midst of all the confusion and not being able to understand, God was there, his hand upon him at all times, his love flowing at all times, his strength apparent at all times for without it, he would not be here today.

The message is this, no matter what you are going through, no matter how hard the road may seem, no matter how much it seems there is no answer, no matter how it seems no one cares, they do, and even if they don’t, GOD does and ultimately, that is all that matters. THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS. His love brought him through.

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