The Mother of Boys, Only Boys, and Lots of Them

I am the mother of boys, only boys, and lots of them (Young boy’s mom).

I thought I had a pretty good handle on how to deal with the things that come with being the mom to five boys. After 24 years, I just knew there wasn’t much they could throw at me that I hadn’t already seen, heard, or cleaned up after, but I was wrong.

My youngest son began to struggle with severe anxiety and depression. Having been diagnosed with ADHD at a young age, he had had his share of struggles before, but this was different. He began acting out in ways I’d never seen before – like suddenly just running away from me in the middle of a store, which is not normal 11-year-old behavior! When the store personnel would catch him and bring him back, he wouldn’t be able to tell me why he had run, where he was trying to go, what he was thinking at the time, or even what had prompted any of it. In fact, often he couldn’t really talk logically to me at all for up to an hour afterward. He became severely depressed and began talking about suicide. I started getting calls from his school that he was acting out and was so depressed he wasn’t really able to function. He wasn’t sleeping through the night anymore and would wake up two or three or sometimes more times every night. That’s when he explained to me that he was terrified when he would wake up because there would be “things” in his room with him.

I had been in touch with Dr. A. almost from the beginning. We had decided to take a wait-and-see stance at first to make sure it was not a medication issue causing his behavior. After multiple doctor’s visits and medication changes, things were not only no better, they were steadily getting worse. That’s when we made the decision to move forward with a deliverance.

Dr. A. put my son at ease immediately! My son, his father and I, and Dr. A. and his team sat in a circle in the small chapel room as Dr. A. took the time to talk to my son and get to know him a little. He spent as much time as needed to make sure he understood what was going on, what he could expect to happen, and what his part in it would be. When everything was in place and my son was comfortable and ready, Dr. A. moved forward with the deliverance session. Even though I’ve been involved in other sessions, I had no idea what to expect. Everything changes when it’s your own son sitting in the chair! There was no need for me to worry. Dr. A. and his team worked with my son on his level, at his understanding, and in a way that was best for him and then sat back and let God do the rest – and He did!

It was late when we made it back home that night so there was little time for discussion, but the first thing the next morning, my son ran into the kitchen and asked me if he looked any different. He was smiling ear to ear and he said: “I have to look different because I feel so completely different inside!” He had slept through the night without waking up for the first time in months.

As the days go by, we see more and more changes in him. Of course, he still has ADHD, but the nervous, almost frantic quality that had become common is gone. He is sleeping through the night on a regular basis and, when he does wake up, there is nothing in his room with him so the fear is gone. There has been no more suicide talk and the out of control anxiety is gone. At a recent family gathering, instead of hiding away as he normally would, he spent the day in the middle of things, playing with his cousins, riding bikes, and acting like your average goofy 11-year-old boy. Towards the end of the day, I noticed he became withdrawn again so I asked him to take a walk with him and we talked. He told me he didn’t know why he was so sad all of a sudden and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. I reminded him about the instructions Dr. A had given him at the end of his session concerning what to do if anything tried to come back. When he got back to the house he disappeared and I was afraid he was hiding somewhere again. About 15 minutes later he reappeared and the smile was back. He explained he found somewhere private and told that thing that he belonged to Jesus and that it wasn’t allowed there anymore and in the name of Jesus it had to go away and leave him alone. His eyes were shining when he exclaimed: “and it did!!”

My son still has his struggles. He is still on medication for ADHD and mood stabilizers for what looks to possibly be bipolar depression. The deliverance did not magically fix everything, but it removed the barriers that stood in the way of dealing with these issues. Now, progress is finally being made in his therapy and he is able to learn ways to deal with the things he is faced with in life. He now has the ability to be successful.

I have my son back, warts and all, and for that, I am extremely grateful.