That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.  Romans 8:28

It was a little over a year ago.

Cracked open a mothers heart.

Busted it wide slap open.

The phone rings at night.  I need to come home.

And so the next morning he brought him home.  Away at school, a boarding school, he had 21 days left of the school year.

But he needed to be home, with family.  Under the roof of protection.  Under the cover of love.

And now forgiveness starts. Like hatchlings peck pecking at the shell, the hard outer, to gain freedom, to fly free, forgiveness is like that. Freeing you up to be unbound. Releasing you outside the hard shell to live in a place of freedom, not bound by pain and anger.

But more importantly he forgives.  And he has forgiven.  He forgave. It’s like conjugating a latin verb, the repetition of the drill brings perfection in the recitation. I forgive, he forgives, we forgive, they forgive. Its really important to perfect this excercise in full, flat-out, nothing held back forgiveness.

At least for the mother. And she believes for the son.

The mother knows because he forgives because he told her.  And Romans 8:28 pierces, raw red beating, pulsing mommas heart with new power.  With new meaning.  It delivers Truth to the threshold of the home.

When pain inflicted by words and actions wound deep in the inner parts, healing deep and wide is required in the embrace of a father and Our Father. And a mother. And home heals.

And forgiveness begins.

So The Patient One, he barely sleeps through the night like the restless protector at the gate keeping watch over his family, one eye open, heart bruised but braced for the extraction. The extraction of a child from woundedness and pain beyond what he can bear up under.

Twenty some odd days left, but the challenges have become too great. And the hurt it got into the soul and the heart and the head and banged around too much. Delt some blows that carved craters in the inner parts.

Words wound and insults, like stinging nettles in the sea, they rip into the flesh and scar. Pain inflicted through words. We know well the power if we were blind to that before. We know now full well the power of language and actions.

It was time to come home.

And I know because he told me.

And he told the mother, you know those guys why did they do that stuff, and why were they so mean. And the mother says they were hurting, they had pain in their own lives. And the mother says I don’t know, but that they were unhappy.

And he says, you know I forgave them.

And the mother blinks back tears, a blend of sweet sorrow and salty pride, and warm love and says she is glad.

He says you know I am glad it happened because I am home now. And I am so glad to be home.

Healing continues, restoration is complete, and he looks at life through a lense of forgiveness.

And the mother understands Romans 8:28.

And God gives the mother new understanding of what a shelter of love and protection under the covering of home can look like, feel like, and live like.

A mother views life through a lense of grace……and forgiveness.

counting gifts on Monday, here, with Ann at A Holy Experience dot com.

* Family time with sand,salt, sea and kayaks

*Having all three kiddos under my roof, bliss—pure joy

*Planning the Great Art Adventure and watching God work out all the details

*Celebrating graduation with neices, with my god-daughter.

*Awaiting the birth of our precious Sadie’s black lab puppies soon. Watching The Patient One and my man/child build the welcome box for the puppies.

* Seeing the excitement in my daughter’s eyes and heart at the count-down to the birth of these young furry children in our home–new life, new furry love, the miracle of God’s design for new life and how we are privileged to play a small role in loving momma dog.

*Spending time with precious friends on the boat, on the river laughing and planning and just being–the simple joy of deep trusted invested in friendship.

*Having middle son tell me how much a certain scripture speaks to him and how he went into his bedroom and spent time with his bible. How the Lord gave him the verse.

*Middle son enjoying his time on the beach after a 92 pound weight loss. A mother’s heart watches years of pain erased by new mercies on these sunny days on the beach, on the river, with friends.

Linking up here and here and here and here too