The Ripple Affect

My son walked through the door in his usual way, ever so quietly, hoping to sneak past to avoid my twenty questions.  Despite his efforts, I caught him and started in.  "How was your day?  Did you finish all your school work?  What homework do you have?  Are you caught up on your reading?"  His answers were very short and evading which led me to pry more.  You know what I'm talking about moms.  To shorten the length of this lengthy tale, he was a bit behind with no real answers as to why.  Needless to say, I was at my wits end.  We have done this song and dance for more years than I wish to remember and thus called my husband to vent.  He too was at a loss.  With Mack upset because I had him doing his homework in front of me and Seth on his way to his counseling session, God began to work without my knowledge.  When Seth walked through the door, frustration rose between father and son and the battle of our son's heart began.   The father began to ask the difficult questions that made the son unsure of himself.  "Do you think you have what it takes?  Do you think you are perfect the way you are?  Are you proud of your heart?"  With tears in his eyes, the young man just shook his head.

Flash back two years ago, same scenario, only skip the "Seth going to counseling" part and in he walks, frustration rises and the father's question sound something like this.  "What is wrong?  Why can't you just do what you are told to do?  Why aren't you succeeding?"  Tears would roll and each would go their separate ways.

Back to present day:  After seeing the sorrow in our son's heart, Seth and I do not relent.  We are BOTH able to see what is going on here.  Satan has our boy's head wrapped up in lies and we are about to put up a fight.  Mack has such an amazing heart for others.  He is loving, compassionate, and self sacrificing to a fault and he has expressed that his peers at school find him "weird".  A lie straight from the depths of hell but still there is some withdrawal coming from Mack.  I spoke up, "Your dad is so proud of you Mack, but the enemy wants you to believe he's not.  He wants you to believe your dad wished he had a different son.  He wants you to believe your dad wishes you were different."  We watched as our precious one crumpled.  I hit a nerve, a wound, a lie Mack had been believing for a long time and to his aid we ran.  Seth began to speak truth into the darkened place the only way a father can and as best we could we instructed our son in how to spot his enemy and overcome him.  The most amazing thing I could have heard in that moment came, "I felt Satan leave." Mackenzie said.  THANK YOU JESUS!!!

The Lord of omnipresence knew this night was coming and prepared the way.  It took the father starting his journey to healing in order for the son to begin his...a beautiful ripple affect.  Though, in our minds, it took a long time to reach this point, it was all at the same time for our Abba.  He is, and was, and is to come.  All is working out for His glory and we praise His name for it!