Caring Heart: Figuring out the Fears

This is for all the parents of children who deal with anxiety.

Figuring Out the Fears

What happened to him?  He doesn't know.  We don't know.  The counselors don't know.  The department doesn't know.   But we all know something happened to him.  Maybe once, maybe more. Sometimes we can guess the cause. But other times not. There are certain places, certain types of situations, that just paralyze him with fear.  He doesn't even understand why.  He just knows he is suddenly terrified.  It sometimes seems so random.  No apparent link, no pattern.  Just a twisted knot of events that we can't seem to unravel. If we could just figure out the cause maybe we could find the road to a solution. But how can we do that when no one knows.  Give us clear heads, observant eyes, keen ears, and the empathy to put it all together.  Guide us to the answer, Lord, that we cannot seem to find ourselves. And if we cannot find the answer, so be it. But help us free him from his fears. Help us lead him out of this place of fear so that he can learn to enjoy this world around him.

Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker   Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.