One of the reasons I don’t struggle with depression is that my parents were encouragers. They always believed in me, always patted me on the back, always told me I could get the job done. They still do this today, and both are in their mid-80’s and their little boy is now 63 years old.
For years, I took my parent’s role in shaping my character for granted… as in, don’t all parents do this?
My blinders were ripped off when I met Rick. All through his childhood years, his mom said to him, “You’re worthless! You will never amount to anything!”
Over and over, she repeated this mantra, until they had the power of prophetic words on his life. He ended up fulfilling her prophecies by spending seventeen years in prison for drugs and robberies.
Although Rick is a believer, he still struggles with the view his mother painted on his life’s canvass. He wonders how Father could love him, why Jesus would die for him and if Holy Spirit will really be his Helper. Rick agrees with the lament the Apostle Paul wrote, “O wretched man that I am!”
One time, I prayed for Rick and saw him sitting on a bunk in a prison cell. He was miserable and sad; and yet, the prison door was open. He just had to get up and walk out into his freedom, but he could not do it.
And to be honest, it”s easy for me to tell Rick that he just needs to trust a little more, believe a little more, pray a little more and study a little more, and then, he would be free of his past. You know, like me, the one who had loving parents who always encouraged me.
His mom’s words have been millstones hanging around his neck, weighing him down in the sea of life.
But there is good news for Rick and others like him who have suffered from parental abuses. This is their season of deliverance. Jesus has heard their cries and is now sending an army of Elijah prophets and apostles who will fulfill the mandates of Micah 4:5-6
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers…
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 