Victory

You know how it helps to share your struggles with others?  Well, it also helps to share your victories.

A long time ago...when Girlie was newly home...she exhibited many socially inappropriate reactions to situations.  Too much laughter...too much anger...too much frustration...too much excitement etc. etc. etc.

Emotions were just so overwhelming. 

Early on...she laughed throughout the funeral of a child in our church family.

I was horrified.

And frightened for her.

Well...the good news is...through lots of instruction and and the modelling of social appropriateness...and lots of hard work...

tries and retries...

&

do-overs...

but entirely because of the Lord's movement in Girlie's heart...to combine all of these things together...

...she is living in a season of victory. 

A few years ago...we ushered my elderly uncle through death.  The kids were hands on...in close proximity.  Then...not long after...his wife, my aunt passed on.  Again...the kids were up close and personal.

Girlie handled both situations very well.  Appropriately.  There was no laughter.  Even some tears shed.

Well....two years later...quite recently...she came to me and told me she was sad and depressed.  Fearful and anxious too.  We talk a lot over here...so we climbed into bed...nice and cozy...and I asked her what was bothering her.

The deaths.  They were just hitting her.  Hard.

It took a few years for her grief to rise to the surface.

But it did.

And it was so lovely and beautiful to behold.  It's strange to say, I know...but her tears and her quivering lip and shaky voice were beautiful.

She was so honest and brave in opening up her heart to loss.   Then...in processing with me...then in handing it over to the Lord so that He could carry the sadness/depression/fear/ and anxiety.

Recently, our dear elderly neighbor, Pat passed away.  Girlie and she were sweet together.  They had a special bond.  This death hit Girlie hard.  Although she had been preparing her heart...when it came ...it was too sudden and it hurt enormously.

The family was so gracious to us.  They allowed neighbors to visit and say our "goodbyes."

Girlie and I were alone in the home.  She walked from room to room...looking at framed photos...touching little trinkets...sharing memories with me.  She asked if I thought she should see Pat... in order to say "goodbye" properly.  I told her that some people need that closure...but for some the visual might be too much to handle and that many times people choose to remember their friends the way they were.

We stood together in the hallway just outside Pat's bedroom door.  Girlie hugged me tightly and cried and cried.  We thanked the Lord for this precious woman.  We prayed together for her family.

Girlie decided that she needed more closure and decided to see Pat.

Her tears flowed.  They turned into sobs.  She left the home broken-hearted.

She cried again at the memorial service.  Freely and appropritely...with self control. 

She didn't want to return home for the next few days...struggling with the knowlege that her friend was no longer across the street.

All of this was articulated.  Communicated.  Talked through.

So brave!

Then...just the other day Girlie told me that she had given her anxiety about returning home to the street with a missing member to the Lord and she's been okay ever since.