The act of growing up into a fully functioning adult is the Job of every child. The Job of the Parent is to facilitate each child to grow into the person God created them to be. Sometimes life interrupts this process and a child becomes stuck emotionally in a certain period in their lives, even as their mind and body grow into adulthood: I graduated high school, went to college, got my degree, got married and raised a child.
Throughout my life I didn’t realize how much I had been limited. When I moved away to college my freshman year I knew I was not as mature as my classmates. I thought I was only 6 years behind. I knew my scoliosis and my reaction to it stunted my growth. I wore a Milwaukee brace in 7th and 8th grade; it never needed to be adjusted. I watched tv and hid from society almost completely until I had surgery; before my freshman year of high school. My surgery corrected the curvature of my spine about half way and to stopped it from getting worse; I had two 65% curves which became two 35% curves and a 10-12 inch stainless steel rod keeps my back flat. I wore a full body cast for 9 months and when it came off, that which was stunting my body from growing broke free and my body started to physically mature.
I did not understand that I was emotionally stuck at 7 until I was 50 my new trusted friend, Marcia, saw my strange reaction to a simple request of putting a paper in the church office. She told me later how she watched my demeanor change into that of a child.
Here are a couple of examples of how this played out in my life: I wanted my daughter to know how to play the piano, my husband bought a piano for her to use, I didn’t know how to get a piano teacher so, she never learned. When I talked to someone with the possibility of starting a friendship and I find out they are a teacher, somewhere deep inside is a conflict; I’m too young, too little, to have a friendship with a teacher.
After my friend, Marcia explained what she knew, she was taking me through , “Work of Heart Ministries”, I took steps into the scary unknown! I am still walking into the unknown! Growing as a person and taking chances. It was a work that took me a few years to become an emotionally mature adult.
I am thankful to God and my husband who has had to change with me and friends who helped along the way. This process began at the same time my daughter graduated from high school, I watched her become an adult and break away from us, her family of origin, into a person in her own right. I followed her example!
God is Good!
