Testimony of Healing August 19, 2002 ISSUE

Threatening situation resolved

Michele Newport

We had an experience with a young man coming into our life. Let's call him Jim. We didn't really know him, but we agreed to take him into our home—much against our better judgement—to accommodate a family member's request. Jim's presence created immediate tension in our home because he was a very angry teenager—almost 20. He had been raised in a very violent home and he began to take his anger out on us. Although he was very polite, he tried to manipulate and drive a wedge between the members of our family.

More and more we found ourselves drawn into the dramas in his life. For example, unbeknownst to us, he was somewhat involved with gang members and their activities. We discovered this one evening when we got an emergency call from the hospital. He had been seriously wounded in a gang confrontation. Since he was estranged completely from his own family, we felt we should step forward and try to help him. Unfortunately, he began to take advantage of our good intentions. And although I was praying about how to best help him, I was also trying to become a surrogate mother. I would spend hours driving him to job interviews, to the unemployment office and to return doctor visits. Before long, it seemed that Jim and his difficulties were taking over our lives.

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