Back in December, our oldest child walked in the house announcing that she wanted to go to Kenya this summer. My knee-jerk response as I unloaded the dishwasher was “ummm…let me think about it…no.” Crushed spirit, frustrated dialogue, closed bedroom door. Maddie, like many teenagers, is prone to presenting massive ideas to us with very few details. The Kenya trip was no different. Thankfully, a short time later, we were introduced to The 410 Bridge. A local business owner is leading a team out of our hometown to Karogoto, Kenya in June. Quickly, we realized we know many of the participants personally and trust them to take care of our girl. I can breathe now.
Later that night, I laid in bed still wondering if Maddie had lost her mind asking to go on a $4000 mission trip. David lovingly reminded me that for Maddie’s entire life, she has been exposed to and knows personally, real-life missionaries. Heck, David was a missionary in Croatia with Cru! Maddie knows families in full-time ministry. She keeps in touch with college students from Pine Cove and YoungLife who are making intentional decisions to invest in the lives of others. Not to mention the countless people whom she has witnessed love and serve Jesus so well in our church families over the years. No wonder it seems natural to her. What we have prayed for, for our children to know Christ and to love others, has taken root and begun to grow.
As a mother, there are moments in the journey when all of a sudden we wake up one day and our children have moved to a new season of life without us even noticing. The passage into maturity, no matter what the stage or skill, is bittersweet. Moms prepare for months and years to launch a child into a next stage. A big potty or a big bed, kindergarten, overnight summer camp, middle school, high school, a driver’s license, or college.
This past year has been full new seasons for Maddie, and thus for me. Driving, traveling out of the country to Honduras, taking the ACT, starting a small photography business, and putting her entrepreneurial gifts into action as she raises the needed funds to go to Kenya. She helped design and is selling the t-shirts pictured below! Like always, the transition to the next level of maturity seems to come out of the blue. Yet, in retrospect, the growth has been taking place for a very long time in her heart.
I gave a lot of thought to what David said that night, and a beautiful picture began to take shape as I placed all the mental puzzle pieces together. Maddie has always been a little girl with a big heart for people. Suddenly, I remembered the following post I wrote in 2012. It captures the essence of Maddie’s love for others that continues today.
Originally posted August 7, 2012:
August 7, 2012 was an ordinary summer day for us in Arkansas. Stay-at-home mom, three young children home all day, dreadful temperatures and a growing list of errands I was avoiding with said three young children.
Reluctantly, we headed out and our to-do list slowly dwindled as we made stop after sweaty stop. A red traffic light slowed our car to a stop at a familiar corner in west Little Rock. And there he sat. A tattered, handwritten sign simply read, “I need help.”
My tender, yet fierce 11-year old inside our air-conditioned car begged me to empty coins into his hands. I suggested to her it may be a better idea to offer a meal or a cold drink. Like I always said. Yet…I had never stopped to offer a meal or a cold drink to anyone.
Routinely, similar souls sit at another red light in town where I turn towards the mall to shop for overpriced eyeshadow. My heart aches for them. And still…I avoid eye contact and turn up the music.
Back to West Little Rock in August 2012…we pulled away as the light turned green, and a decision loomed. Keep driving home or go back. Nervous blood pumped hard through my veins as we exited the parkway into a gas station. Looping back around, I prayed silently that traffic would allow us to stop close to the man who sat baking in the Arkansas sun. In no coincidence, traffic stopped us eye-to-eye.
This time I turned the music down. “Sir, would you like some cold water?” I nervously inquired. He ambled over to the window, took the water from Maddie’s hands, politely declined the Gatorade (notable, seeing how desperately hot he was). He thanked us profusely in a cadence revealing a lifetime of disability.
In the short seconds before the light glowed green, he eagerly gulped. He leaned his head forward and down and let the rest of the bottled water rush over his head and neck.
And Maddie wept.
My strong-willed, yet oh–so-tender-hearted child literally was the hand of Jesus reaching out a car window to meet a real, felt need. I cannot help but be reminded of how many times I cry out those exact words. “I need help!” Jesus has lovingly answered my cries for help in unique and unexpected ways over the years through real people offering real help. He is El Roi, the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13).
It was a remarkable day. Not because we gave water to a man who needed help. It was remarkable because we realized what we’d missed all the times we didn’t.
Melanie says
I loved this Amanda!! Best wishes to Maddie as she prepares for her mission trip.
Marjie says
Once again, Amanda, you are using your gift to share your life through writing! We look forward to keeping up with Maddie Girl! Thanks😍❤️😍