I ran across a blog post from Sheila Walsh today about trust. It’s short and worth your while to read. In there she talks about the lasting affects of having your trust broken as a child.
When trust is shattered when you are a child it is a wound that hides in the basement of our souls. Other wounds heal but trust seems to be the very last casualty. We learn to love again, to laugh again but to trust? The trouble is when trust is broken it affects every relationship. This wound, this slammed shut door does not allow us to be selective. If affects our ability to trust God too.
This touches me today as I look at Alison, she was betrayed as a child when her father abandoned his family but had learned to trust David when he promised he would never leave her. Now she is struggling to understand how he could betray her too. And I see the three sons who have had their trust broken and will feel the effects of that for years to come.
As Alison tried to explain to the boys that Dad isn’t going to live with them any more, she stressed that she would always be there. That Anthony and I would always be there. That other family will always be here for them. And that reassurance is good, to remind them that even when one person fails, there are others who will stand firm. But I wonder in other ways if that even makes a difference. Why should they trust us if the one person they trusted most, their dad, has walked away from them?
Wow Laura! I didn’t know you had a blog until now! It’s cool. I’m so sorry about all the pain going around with David’s decision. I didn’t know quite what happened until seeing 2 of your posts. It sounds like you’re being a solid rock the rest of them need right now and I’m sure that means more than you know. May God bless and I’ll put this in my prayers….
P.S., as you know, I like the ‘Life is Good’ stuff – but I see the title of one of your blogs is ‘Life is Hard’ – and, gosh, yes it is. Thankfully, with God’s grace, it’s good sometimes too. 🙂