She's Baaacccckkkk!

Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction
and in the end you will be wise.

I am so blessed this morning to be able to write about how God has healed my family. It is not very often that a mom gets the chance to see God's hand at work so quickly. In this case, it is so obvious to me that God had His hands on this child and would not let me rest until there was a solution. Let me go back a few months.

Before Christmas, Doodle was really struggling with her temper. This has not been the only time in her life this was an issue, but this time was more intense. It got scary. I did not see the passion she normally has for life or the joy. This girl is a burst of energy in our home and suddenly she was a puddle on her bed or a fire raging in the home. Not the normal Doodle. Schooling became a nightmare and it appeared she was struggling with some deep issues that were over my head. So, I signed us up to go see a trusted Christian counselor together. I knew that we needed help to figure this out and I was willing to do whatever it took to help my girl.

So, after the first of the year, we went to our first session. At that session, we were asked if there were any meds that she takes on a regular basis. I told them she takes Singular and has an inhaler for her asthma. The light bulb went off with this woman. She told me there had been a link between mental illness in children and Singular. Now, I did not believe that was the only issue we were dealing with but I did feel a since of hope. I thought the Singular might have been causing the intensity of the rages but not the anger in and of itself. So I called the pediatrician and they removed her from taking this medicine. The counselor also gave Doodle tools to use, most of which we had taught her before, but somehow having this woman tell her, she did it. I am grateful she learned them regardless of who told her.

Jump forward six weeks, last night we had another session. As we sat there, I just kept thinking what an amazing God we serve. Since Doodle has been off this med, she is no longer raging at all. We have not had that issue since the beginning of January. She is using her "I feel" statements when she does get angry and is over it in 10 minutes or less. That is a miracle in itself. Her rages would last an hour to six hours at the worst.

Now, my girl is back. She has passion, energy, joy again. She is my Doodle once more. I am not saying she never has any issue with anger and never will again. That is not true. She has issues with her temper that she will have to work on for a long time, but she has the tools and her body will let her. As she sat there talking to the counselor last night, she beamed of how much better she feels. She kept saying she use to feel nothing but anger sitting on her bed all day and thinking of all the things that made her mad. I can confirm that to be true. The girl was stewing. But now, she said she feels that a curtain has been lifted and she can see the colors in her life again. I love that!

So, it is with much joy and great pride that I say, we have been officially released from counseling. The counselor feels we are on the right path and no longer need her on a regular basis. Obviously, if anything pops up, we will return. Until then, it is just so nice to wake up each morning to hear my girl singing again. (seriously, she is such a morning person and I am soooo not.) I am proud of her being willing to dig in with me and figure this thing out together. We both were praising God last night for His leading us to the counselor He did and for healing. I have so missed my girl.

Doodle is an entertainer. She loves to make me laugh. I have missed that in my life and have to say that it is a joy to have that back. So here is the tribute to my girl. This picture was taken when she told me she was going to go take a shower about a year or so ago. When she came out of the bathroom, she was suddenly snorkel girl! Cracked me up. She just kept talking to me like nothing was wrong. She has a gift to bring joy to others and I just so pleased to be able to see her using that gift once more. I did not realize how much I missed that in my life, but I did. It is such a blessing to have my girl back. Thank you, Jesus!

Psalm 71:23
My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you—
I, whom you have redeemed.