I Will Give You a New Heart

I turned my bathroom mirror into a scripture mirror. I'm sure my awesome cleaning people were not sure what to do with it but for the most part they left I alone. The verse I thought of over and over during these months going into the holiday season was. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

Every time I brushed my teeth, washed my hands or stood in front of that mirror I would read that beautiful verse and others as well. Her heart was so broken and it broke my heart to see her so sad. I was eager for her to start seeing herself as worthy. I'd text her as I still do today, that she is worthy of everything awesome and that God has a plan for her. She's going to do amazing things. I also prayed God would change the hearts of her family. We were preparing for the holidays and we were also coming up on the anniversary she came to live with us. At this point it was a year since she spoke to her family and she missed and worried about her younger brother terribly. They did everything they could to keep her from coming into contact with him. I continued to reach out via messenger to extended family. I never heard anything. Again, it's like trying to through a brick wall.

                               

During this time, the domestic violence case was about to be heard. Finally, it had been delayed several times. We had wonderful counsel. My husband and I are so very thankful for our lawyer. We had a meeting with our lawyer and his father who is in the office with him. His father asked us what she would do if her mother got off? My immediate response was, she'll flip out. She's gone through so much, I didn't think she'd be able to handle another blow to the gut. He prepared us for the worst case scenario. He explained the Municipal judges are paid with the same money the teachers are paid with. Ahhh...  Say no more. So, it was in her mother's favor that she was employed by the school. Bottom line is, the judge wasn't going to do anything to our school system that would bring bad press. They'd had a lot of bad press with this teacher. This was the second arrest in 6 months for her. She is the only teacher I've known to be arrested in our school system during the 14 years I've lived here. So yeh, that's not good for our school's image. But it must be okay to have a teacher that Cleary has anger issues. Again, the judge isn't going to bite the hand that feeds him. Got it. I was hopeful that he would do the right thing, how could he not?  The video was clear. It was threatening and definitely assault. Time would tell. We were thankful for lawyers who were honest and upfront and they were always so wonderful with her. They were cognizant of her fragility  and they never forgot she was a kid. We were thankful.

December 3rd came and went. We celebrated her "gotcha" day and we were praying hard for the upcoming trial. So many friends and family were praying. We prayed justice would be done. I remember talking to her as we were driving to court. I said, remember, whatever happens, it will be okay. I reminded her that there's a bigger plan and we will have to trust God's will in this. She never likes to hear that as that means more waiting. I knew she pressed charges to help her younger brother. and other kids. I've seen her flashback to when her mother was angry with her younger brother and it was so scary. We reminded her that no matter what happens he was most likely okay because her mom was under the radar. People were watching and paying close attention. She couldn't afford to mess up again. I also reminded her that no matter what happens in court, we are still going to celebrate Christmas and we are going to buy lots of gifts for people. One way or another, it will all be okay. And, we have to trust the plan. Always fun convincing a 16 year old of that...Insert sarcasm.

Several friends joined us at court. We were so thankful for friends who took time to sit with us, text us, and pray for us. It didn't go our way. She didn't flip out totally, there were tears and she asked "how?" And then she said, "I know she'll do it again, she can't control herself." She worries about other kids she might hurt. I told her that she cannot take that worry on. And, she thought of her younger brother. Again, I reassured her that because she spoke up and brought the abuse out in the open, most likely he is okay. So that was that. We had no choice but to respect the court's decision and move on to the next phase of picking up the pieces. And there would be no shortage of pieces as you'll see.

The next morning, I woke up to a message in messenger from her grandfather., her mother's father..It said, "We won round one ha." That's all...Not a thank you for taking care of my grand daughter, not a what can I do to help.. "We won round one ha" Again, it reinforced to me that we were dealing with narcissistic evil sick people.. I didn't realize we were in a boxing match. Absolutely unbelievable that a grandfather or anyone would send such a thing. The patriarch of the family. And there you have it. That is who they are, bad people.  God's the winner. Love Always Wins and God is Love!

Joshua 1:9 spoke to me often during this time. Where ever we went and whatever was going on good or bad, I knew the Lord was with us. I trusted his plan. I had the feeling His plan was huge and it was just going to take time to all fall into place.

A couple days after court, she decided that she wasn't going to let this crush her and she wanted to do something that would help others. We're in the early phases of planning an event for child abuse awareness. Prayerfully, the Lotus Walk will help others.Please pray that we are led in the right direction. I'm certain God has his hand in this as He has continued to guide us through this process. Her story and experiences will help others. It already has.

I know something beautiful will come from all of this pain!