Rich in Love: When God Rescues Messy People by Irene Garcia, Lissa Halls Johnson Page B

her daughter.
    Her brother, Felix, on the other hand, strutted up to the front door as though he was somebody important with his own entourage trailing along behind. He looked through the door, checking everything out, as though deciding whether this house was good enough for him to set foot in. Then he walked right past me as though I was invisible and said to no one in particular, “Where’s my room?”
    I moved to stand in front of him. “In my home you will need to acknowledge me.”
    His chin tipped up and he said, “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to. I have a lawyer, and I have rights.”
    My blood curdled. I wanted to get in his face and scream at him, “Get out now!” Thankfully, the Spirit controlled my anger. Instead, I said, “That’s fine. You can take your rights, your lawyer, and yourself right out of our home. In this house I have the right to ask you to leave.”
    He backed down, defiance still written all over his face.
    Joseph and the other kids watched from a distance. Alfred and Esther were excited and anxious to meet them. Joseph, watching every move the older boy made, became very protective of me.
    Once I showed Felix to the room he would share with Joseph, I retreated to my room and closed the door behind me, fearful, trembling, and crying.
    Within a few days of dealing with the new kids, I became aware of how far Joseph and Alfred had come. Joseph was learning to trust us and relinquish his role as the one in charge. He was enjoying being a normal kid.
    A few months later, Marie and I were in the car together, listening to Christian talk radio. The topic? “Staying Pure for Your Mate.”
    Marie began to squirm, her brows drawing together. “Do you think God loves girls who aren’t pure?”
    Her point-blank question surprised me. She had been so closed that I didn’t expect such an open question. I wanted to cry. This girl had been sexually assaulted and used, feeling guilt that didn’t belong to her but to those who had stolen her innocence and purity.
    I pulled the car over, then said a quick prayer in my head as I turned off the engine. I began to gently share with her that God loves us even when we aren’t pure. I explained that with the gift of salvation, Jesus makes us all pure again.
    Together we prayed, and she asked him to forgive her of all she had done and to be the one who guided her life.
    After the amen, she began to share her past with me. I’d known very little, but now I knew the larger story. No child should have to endure all she did—and all because her birth mom was an addict who used her children to help her get drugs.
    Marie and Felix had been with us about a year when the social worker contacted us to say that their nine-year-old sister, Doreen, needed a home. The social worker was unusually honest and straightforward about Doreen’s issues. Since most social workers downplayed the issues of the children they were trying to place, when she told us Doreen was wild, rebellious, and mean, we knew she was really, really bad.
    There were so many reasons to say no. We were knee-deep in muck already. Domingo was still working long hours. I was doing most of the childcare for six children alone. And yet my heart reached out to this little girl.
    What was I thinking? Did I think we could save the world one child at a time?
    When we brought it up to the family, Felix and Marie begged us to take in their little sister. Felix tried to convince us to take her by offering to help us in any way he could to teach her the rules of our home. He seemed confident that she would listen to him and that he would be able to influence her. Now this was a boy who was very self-centered, so this really touched my heart. Sadly, we would soon learn that this little wild child listened to no one—not even Felix!
    By now Felix was doing pretty well—better than we had expected. He still had a mouth on him, but at least he was trying, and I didn’t want to mess that up by