How the Heart of the Braveheart Really Helps with the Hard and the Heartache

A sea of pain surrounds us.

We are engulfed in a wild current of emotions, and the raging waters threaten to take us under. We may be tired, confused, and overwhelmed. We may be depressed and angry, or lonely and feeling lost…

But if we want to help our hurting children, and save our families, we must respond appropriately. No matter what the emotional floodwaters may bring. No matter what storms may come… and the storms do come.

Through the desperation wrought of their pain, our children may:

• lash out at us
• push back
• withdraw
• refuse to take their medication
• reject counseling
• put themselves in danger
• mutilate themselves in ways we never could have imagined
• plan to run away
• attempt suicide

We must steel ourselves, and grasp that we must:

• be prepared for struggles
• be prepared for medication side effects
• be prepared for strained sibling relations
• be prepared for crisis
• be prepared that our children may not let us help them
• be prepared to have our hearts broken over and over

We didn’t pick this… but neither did our kids.

And it’s true, our family may not look like most of the families we know. But this is what we have. This is where we are… at an inky dark corner where mental health care and parenting intersect.

The path has not exactly been blazed for us.

How can we go on? How can we prepare for a lifetime of concern??

Our children are blinded by their afflictions. If we suffer a similar illness, we need professional help and family counseling. If we are healthy, our physical and emotional states may be taxed to the limit. But their hope of health, and our families’ hope of peace, depend upon our responses.

If we read the Heart of the Braveheart and believe in the power of love, we choose to intentionally keep our minds focused on their pain and our effort to love them through it. If we set our minds here, then we can maintain self-control and operate from a thinking place of calm and care. Our pain will not go away, yet we can maturely work on our own emotions separately. If we set our minds on love, we foster compassion and patience, which allow us to respond to our kids in a way that will gently lead them to healing.

True healing is rooted in love.