"I wonder what he's doing."
"Yeah me too."
"You think he still gets really mean?"
"I don't know...probably."
"You think he's still in the hospital?"
"He has to be. Remember? Mommy said we wouldn't see him for a while because he had to get his mind better."
"But it's been really long. Like a really really really long time!"
"I know, but maybe it takes a long time to fix your mind. You know because it's inside."
"Do you want to see him?"
"I don't know... do you?"
"No, I'm scared! I think he might hurt us like before."
"You mean like when he picked you up and threw you?"
"Yeah, or like when he used to hit Mommy."
"Yeah, me either! I don't want to see him. But I hope he's okay."
"Yeah, we can just pray for him. God will protect him."
I almost cried as I posted myself in the hallway outside of the room my two daughters shared. They were talking about their father! A topic that nowadays I would have to find unobtrusive ways to initiate, just to get them to share their feelings. But, here they were on a regular day, having a very grown up conversation about him.
"Yeah we can just pray for him, you are right."
"Remember, what we learned at church? We don't have to see it happen to know God is working on it?"
"Yep, so it will happen."
And a tear fell from my eye. Here are these children. These young six and seven year old children, showing complete forgiveness for the extreme pain that this man caused them. They forgave him and were praying for him! An act most grown folk can't even fathom! And my children were engrossed in it...
I find comfort in knowing that God heard their prayer. It makes me smile that even though their father believes in his heart that his girls don't love him, even though he shows no regard for their existence, even though he has disrupted the normalcy and innocence of their young lives, that they can still find it in their hearts to forgive him and to love him. I was proud of my girls that day, and I thanked God for His grace, because even though they were hardest hit, with His love I know they will be okay.
