Brave Surrender by Kim Walker-Smith

Author:Kim Walker-Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2019-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Generous Love

George adopted my baby brother, Matt. After Greg, Matt’s biological dad, had disowned him, I was both relieved and scared for my brother. He was only two years old, but he understood what had happened, and it was very apparent that he was in pain. For a long time, any time we mentioned “Dad” or “Greg,” Matt would clench his little fists and shout, “Don’t say that word. I hate that word!” Then he would grunt and hold his breath with a look of anguish, his little cheeks turning from bright red to almost purple, until we shouted at him to breathe before he passed out. We tried wrapping our arms around him and loving him in those moments, but it didn’t seem to help. He couldn’t verbalize everything that had happened, but he knew and felt the rejection.

I remember the day Matt, at only two and a half years old, came to us and announced, “George is my new daddy now.” George wasn’t even married to my mom yet, but Matt had already made up his mind. A couple of years into the marriage, the adoption became final, and Matt received a new last name. It meant so much to me to know that my brother would have a very different life than I had. Matt and I have always been very close—I was more like a second mama to him than a sister. I felt so incredibly thankful to George for adopting him and taking care of him.

After my sister and I both graduated from high school and moved to California, George wanted to do fun things with Matt almost every weekend. I called Matt regularly to see how he was doing, and on one occasion, I heard a very disappointed-sounding Matt on the phone. I asked him what was wrong. He said, “Well, Mom and Dad want to take me four-wheeling at the dunes this weekend.”

“Um . . . wow, Matt, that sounds like such a bummer,” I said, my voice full of sarcasm. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t want to go with them,” he whined. “They are so old!”

I burst out laughing and said, “Kid, you have no idea how good you have it!” And I was so happy that he had it so good.

George was just as loving and generous with Amy and me. He loved country music and dancing and used to take us to the Bum Steer Dance Palace, a Christian-owned country dance place in our little farm town, to learn the two-step and line dances. He bought my sister and me button-up shirts with tassels, bolo ties, cowgirl hats, and boots and made us feel like rodeo princesses on the dance floor.

Every once in a while, George would pick us up from school on a Friday and surprise us with a weekend trip to a waterslide park or some other fun place. Best of all, every summer he arranged a clothes shopping trip for “his girls” that made us absolutely giddy with excitement.

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