When "Mommy" Doesn't

Just read a quote from Katie Davis in this blog post. It's sweet, about what "Mommy" means:

...because "Mommy" is forever. It's such a powerful name. Mommy means "I trust you." Mommy means "you will protect me." Mommy is for shouting when you need someone dependable and for laughing with when you are excited. Mommy is for crying on and cuddling with when you are sad, or giggling and hiding behind when you are embarrassed. Mommy is the fixer of boo-boos and the mender of broken hearts. Mommy is a comfort place - a safe place. Mommy means "you are mine and I am yours and we are family.

Yes, that is what "Mommy," and later "Mom," is supposed to mean. I'm so thankful, my mom was that, when I was small, and still is "you are mine and I am yours and we are family." The commitment and the love never ends.

But what about when "Mommy" doesn't live up to that?

I sat across from a girl yesterday, tears were running down her face. "My mom... and another man... I hate my mom, but I don't know if I should hate her." For a few years she heard rumours about her mom and another man in the village, but this summer, two days after she went home, she and her sister were sleeping with her mom in her room, when suddenly that other man walked in. He had entered their house through the open kitchen window area. She called her dad--he had just left to work elsewhere a week earlier--and he came back. Dad told her he talked with her mom, she admitted everything, but put the blame on the other man. Dad talked to that man. Dad is still home now. Maybe it's all in the past?

What seems to hurt most--she had thought her mom was a good person.

Yes, it's what we want, what we need, what should be--moms and dads who love, protect, are good and faithful, people that we can look up to throughout our lives. But what about when our "mommy" doesn't live up to our expectations, to our hopes. What do you do when your mom betrays you, betrays the family?

I asked if I could pray for her. She seemed eager and thankful for me to do that.

Lord, I continue to lift her before You, please comfort, heal--the hurt, the anger, the hate. And I pray for her mom, and her dad...true repentance, wisdom, mercy, love, forgiveness, restoration...and whatever else is needed.