Heartbreak Hotel

Uuuuuggggghhhhh. Is there anything that breaks your heart more than when one of your kids is hurting through one of life's inevitable disappointments?

Kristen's school does MORP (Prom spelled backwards because the girl asks the boy). It's a school function where they go to dinner, a play, a football game or other event. They dress up according to a theme set by the Associated Student Body. There are traditions to MORP, you wait to ask someone until it has been announced. You ask in a creative way. The boy responds in a similarly creative way.

Kristen has had a heart tug for a boy from her school for 5 years. They've always been friends. There's kind of a kindred spirit between them. They enjoy each other's company. He's a very nice young man from a good family and he's a year younger than Kristen.

Kristen has been waiting for years for this moment, to ask him to MORP. Several weeks ago she got the courage to ask his parents at church if she could ask him to MORP. They said yes. She didn't have to do this, but wanted to make sure she did everything with excellence. It took a lot of courage to take ths step.

She waited for it to be announced, which was Friday. She still didn't know how she was going to ask him. Then, on Saturday, she decided. Saturday night our family left the house at 11 pm and went to the store to buy lots of plastic forks. Dressed all in black we drove to the next town where he lived and forked his lawn. Each of us had a letter. We spelled MORP? on their front lawn. We left an envelope on the front porch where she had designed and wrote an invitation to MORP. We left without a trace.

Sunday morning I saw his Dad. He accused us (rightly) of being at his house the night before. We confessed. Last night the phone rang. It was him. He called to tell Kristen that a girl had asked him on the way to class Friday after the rally if he would go to MORP with her and he said yes. He even said how cool it was that she forked his lawn and that he really wanted to go with her. Kristen graciously said, "That's okay."

Needless to say, Kristen was crushed. Tears flowed, begging us to talk to his parents commenced and the search for a loophole to this unfortunate turn of events ensued. Greg and I told her we couldn't talk to his parents about this because it was his decision. We had the opportunity to talk about the importance of not being bitter towards the girl. To only speak well of her. And we introduced her to something called spiritual warfare, as our battles are not against flesh and blood. It was time to fight. It was time to pray, and pray hard for God to change the circumstances. It's just like the enemy to wedge between two people in a relationship and try to mess things up. We prayed last night with her as we do every night, but this prayer was very different.

She asked for her Bible and asked what she should read. Greg told her Joshua. I checked on her a few minutes later to find her in the dark, laying backwards on her bed with a light shining brightly on God's word. She searched for anything that would help her.

This morning I asked her what she found last night. She said, "Be strong and courageous." She's armed this morning with grace and kindness, though her heart is still a little dented. Please stand in prayer with us. Whatever the outcome, this will be a good learning experience for her in praying through difficult circumstances and standing up for what she believes in.