Before our life was upset by our prodigal, our household was stable and well maintained. Sure, my husband and I had our moments with our five young adults, but everything seemed in control until our son called one night saying he had been picked up for drunk driving. All of a sudden things took a turn as the unexpected occurred without our permission. It was like an unexpected storm or accident. You may have experienced this too.
How did this happen?
What warning signs did we ignore?
We didn't know the answers but our family immediately regrouped and support was rallied to weather the storm. We sought help from those that had experience in this area. Things changed as we had to adapt our lives around our son's consequences. Our son was remorseful and we felt it had caused a change in his life.
Then months later another fall happened later that was even more scary. This time is was not only a physical battle, but a spiritual one too. This event took days to navigate and we were uncertain of the outcome. We didn't know if it would end due to the impact on his mind. We experienced emotional trauma due to the unpredictable responses of our son moment to moment and as a result, we got little sleep. After praying about it, my husband and I contacted some of our closest friends that came over to support us by giving us a break so we could sleep and not be on high alert.
We tangibly felt the battle between darkness and light. There were times that I would sing worship songs and read Psalms as our son came in and out of full consciousness. There were times we addressed the demonic and spoke it out of our household. I hung on tight to the God who speaks and guides me in the moment. In the end, their was a supernatural outcome that caused my prodigal to come home.
I realized that through my personal experience in prayer ministry for seven years, I had tools that were effective for me to use at that time. I wondered how traumatic this would have been without my prior knowledge.
I then started to realize sharing my experience may help others in their difficult seasons of having a loved one that has gone rogue. This loved one, who has gone on an extravagant wild adventure at the expense of a trusting relationship with you and God, has become your prodigal. Your prodigal may be your child, or it could be another that you are connected to such as a spouse, parent, sibling or friend. This prodigal rejects what you value and turns the other direction. They may reject you, your heart and your trust. They may be struggling with addictions or their own trauma. The list of causes is endless.
But I am mostly concerned with you. How are you doing? What emotions are you suppressing that are bottled up inside of you? What needs to be processed and released? How do you even do that alone? These are some of things that I will be writing about in the days ahead. Another aspect will be sharing strategies I have learned in navigating the day to day struggles with a prodigal. My hope is that as I share, there will be useful information to bring you courage, hope, and stamina. I am not an expert on this matter, only God is. But I do want walk beside you to share the journey that neither of chose or desired to take.
Let's do it together. Maybe we will learn to see things from a new perspective as waiting occurs.
