May May

"Knock, Knock, Knock"... my heart grew heavy at the pounding on our door knowing it was one of the neighborhood kids. It has been challenging for me to joyfully embrace the knocking when I am already having a hard enough time with 2 little ones of my own. However, as I opened the door and saw that it was this little third grade boy named, May May - I remembered how just the night before Jack and I were praying for this little boy because of some of the struggles he had been through! God had been preparing my heart prior to his knocking.

"Mrs. Emily, Can you help me with my homework?" He kindly asked.

My heart softened... Jackson & Jonah were both asleep... "why not?" I thought, and welcomed him in.

As we sat and worked through some math problems May May shared with me a little about his family. His Daddy died when he was six and his mother had recently moved here to get away from an abusive relationship, where May May had been a victim of some abuse as well. His Mom is also expecting another baby in December.

May May heavily said, "I have to be my Mommy's husband now...and I have to be the Daddy for my new brother."

Often times I dont' know what to say to some of these kids, but I was able to look at May May right in his eyes and say with confidence,

" May May, you are a little boy! You are NOT a husband and you are NOT a Daddy. It is not your responsibility to be your Mommy's husband and it's not your responsibility to be your brother's Daddy. You can be a helpful son for your Mommy and a helpful big brother but God is not asking you to be a husband or a dad, okay?"
He took a very deep breath, exhaled and said, "Okay Mrs. Emily, thank you."

What a heavy burden to try and bear at such a young age! To be a husband and a father can be a heavy burden at ANY age! I went to sleep that night thinking about Jesus' words to us, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. 11:28,30 I thought about how Christ isn't promising to take away all our burdens but that He is promising to help make the burdens and hardships of this world able to be eased and lightend through Him. Pray with me as May May reads his Bible at night and sits under Biblical teaching with Jack at The Tree House (Which is the after school program) that May May would experience letting Jesus bear his burdens with him.

Please continue to pray for wisdom with the kids in our community and for wisdom with handling the crime that goes on here. We are asking the Lord to decrease the crime and for our community to be proactive in helping protect and report what we see.

Thank you!
Emily (Jack, Jackson & Jonah)