Don't give up
Yesterday I spoke by phone with "Bo", one of our Thai daughters who has been in a Christian addiction rehab center in Chiang Mai for over a month. I mentioned her in this post . To say that Bo has given us headaches over the last couple of years would be putting it mildly--migraines would be more like it. She came to us over 2 years ago with a history of prostitution, violence and addiction. Bo has a personality that from the beginning was very charming, but she could also be quite good at lying and covering things up. You also didn't want to make her angry. Although in her mid 20's, she could behave like a young teen. Judy and I would sometimes call her our street kid, our wild child.
With all her acting out, keeping Bo around has been a challenge. Tougher cases like hers take more time. You always feel like you're short-changing the "good kids" because of the few bad ones that take so much time. It's safe to say that in many programs such as ours she would have been gone long ago--she broke rules so many times. But in spite of it all, we felt that God has had a special call for her, that amidst all her wildness was a heart that wanted to be pure, that longed after something better. She once told me, in tears, that her dream for a long time was to someday have a home for orphans and/or handicapped children. We knew we could not fix her, but saw our job as keeping her as safe as possible to allow time for God to heal her and make her grow.
Bo laughed and wept on the phone when she heard my voice. "I miss you so much, Dad. I'm doing so well. I love God sooooo much." She talked about learning to fast and pray, about leading worship for gatherings at the center--something that our co-worker Khio once reported seeing in a dream. "I understand you now, Dad," she exclaimed "All the things that you told me over and over, I really get them now, and I'm talking about them here with others." Of course I laughed and wept too.
I'm not going to say that the story is over, that Bo will never relapse again or give us another migraine. But we haven't chosen to love Bo because she's perfect, but because God made her worth loving. If Jesus could die for her, certainly we can put up with some headaches. If God doesn't give up on her, neither will we.
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