You Need Me

Waiting in my car in a line at the school to pickup the little girl whom we were fostering, I started to pray. I prayed, “Lord, you know that I have no skills to deal with a young girl who has come from such a traumatic life. I know nothing about therapies, or behaviors that could help her heal. Lord, I HAVE NO SKILLS!” Sitting there in the car, I heard in my mind (not my ears), “You don’t need skills. You need Me.”

Even though I had no idea what I would be doing, I relaxed and felt quite sure that whatever I needed to do would be clear and possible. It didn’t keep me from repeating this prayer many times in the next months, but I always knew the answer.

Lydia was five years old when she came to stay with us. She had been left with her mother’s boyfriend while her mother worked since Lydia was two years old. The boyfriend abused her. She was strong willed, given to tantrums, , and she was passionately attached to her mother, the only person with whom she felt safe. When I first showed her the bedroom she would have, she asked, “Is this where the good people live?” “Yes, I answered, How did you know that?” “There aren’t any bars on the windows,” she answered. She had come from a homeless shelter, as the first two foster homes had returned her.

It was the beginning of a life-changing relationship, both for Lydia and for my family and for me. Every evening the three of us, my seventeen year old daughter, my husband and I sat at the kitchen table after Lydia was in bed, and each one voted whether or not to continue this foster placement. Every evening we agreed that we could live with Lydia for at least one more day, when we would vote again.

In the six months that Lydia stayed I learned the meaning of Paul’s words: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) I never stopped praying, and God never stopped delivering. A dear neighbor, a psychologist, invited me to her home to “talk,” from whom I learned a great deal. A wonderful kindergarten teacher, and others were kind to Lydia and to me, and I knew that the skills I didn’t have were being supplied.

Eventually Lydia’s father arrived, having a new wife and her two children, to take custody of Lydia. They were caring parents, and it was a successful, if not easy, placement. I have never forgotten the words, “You Need Me.”

Love in Him,

Prue