Sometimes in life we will need someone to take a walk with us. It could be a walk each day to encourage your friend to exercise with you or it could be a walk on a journey in life where that person’s presence becomes the strength you need just to keep going. Everyone needs someone. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. Jesus needed the disciples to carry his message to the world after his death.
There were many times I could look back over my life and see I needed someone, but I felt like I was all alone. One of the first things the Lord did for me when I received salvation was, He walked with me backwards in intercession and showed me how much He was with me as a little girl when I felt alone the most. However, no matter how much we know Jesus is there, the word says a brother is born for adversity. I needed my mom for this mile I was about to have to walk. In Matthew 5:41 If anyone asks you to go one mile, go with them two miles. I asked my mom to walk this mile with me and she walked two.
Let me tell you how I will remember her the most and honor her for how she stepped up to the plate for one of the times I needed her the most. Shortly after the death of their father, my late ex-husband, my youngest son decided he was going to take control of his own life. He became completely defiant. He was attending a school that required him to wear a uniform. He decided he would no longer be wearing a uniform because he said I was trying to control him. He decided he no longer needed school and had scored so high on his scores that top schools were recruiting him for high school. He decided to smoke weed on the school property. I was constantly being called off my job because he also decided he didn’t want to live anymore and was suicidal.
I was completely overwhelmed by his behavior. It is too much to tell. I had the psychologist coming into my home, weekly. I took him to the psychiatrist. I was taking him to church to get deliverance. The system forced me to allow him on medication or else I was going to get charged with a case. His behavior escalated against me, and I came to a breaking point. This went on non-stop for two years. I knew we needed greater intervention.
There were so many days, he was in a different hospital. I couldn’t go up with my baby at the time. My mom would sit in the car for hours so I could visit him and then I would sit so she could visit him. Every weekend for four years and as needed I was on the road stopping stuff, bringing him something or we were going to visit him for hours. She would even go by herself on long bus rides just to take him something he requested while I was working. My mom nor me didn’t know that this would be the longest mile it would seem we would ever walk together because she was also slowing losing her vision and dying from cancer. My mom past last July 2023, but her presence was a silent strength to me so I could keep walking.
I want to encourage others that may be struggling as a caregiver in some capacity. Find you some resources to get the help you need. Continue to trust God. Get a support group and find you someone that will walk what may seem to be the longest mile of your life. Be thankful for those that have been willing to walk with us and may we never take for granted the sacrifice it may have cost when we ask someone to walk a mile with us. I honor my mom, Beverly Bares, for walking one of the longest miles of my life with me.