* How to Truly Love, God's
Way *
David was the fifth child in our family of eight kids. He was
two years older than me and was born with Downs Syndrome.
We lived in the "way outback" in south Alabama.
When I was a small girl, I was so totally embarrassed when
people would stare at him as if he were a freak. He always
noticed it, too. Many times he would ask the rest of the
family why are they looking at me like that? We always told
him it was because he was so handsome. But, I was still
ashamed to be seen with him in public myself, and I was his
sister.
One hot summer afternoon when David was 14 years old, he came
running into the house sobbing loudly. His heart was breaking
in two. Before I could get to him to see what was wrong, he
had fallen down beside his bed and began to cry and pray.
This was his prayer:
"God, why me? Why am I so different from everybody else?
Nobody understands me. I just want to play with all the other
boys and be like them. Why? Why? Why am I so different?"
My heart began to pound. My anger began to rise. I walked
outside to see what had happened. My younger brothers said
several boys from the neighborhood had been in our yard
mocking and making fun of David after he asked if he could
play with them. They broke his heart.
Remembering what I had just heard, my anger turned to rage.
I went looking for those boys. They were still mocking David
when I found them two houses away. I whipped 3 boys that
afternoon, all bigger and older than me. I quickly ran home
and confessed my fighting to Mom, before those boy's mothers
could get to her.
David was still crying when I had gotten home. He stayed
beside his bed for over three hours crying and praying to
God. When he finally ended his prayer, he so quietly said
to God:
"I want your will to be done in my life. Amen. Thank you,
God."
Crying myself, I tried to comfort David that afternoon, but
could not. He was too broken in spirit to hear me or to feel
my compassion for him.
That was the first time I really knew that David fully
understood how different he was. My image and view of him
totally changed that afternoon. He became a strong focal
point in my life. I loved him so dearly and took him with
me everywhere when Mom allowed me to.
My admiration and respect for him knew no boundaries. He showed
love to everyone he came in contact with. His life was centered
around loving people unconditionally. He accepted everyone. He
never spoke ill of any person. Even when people hurt his
feelings, he forgave them immediately and hugged their necks.
It was many years later, when he died at 49 years of age, that
'I' received the answer to 'his' prayer. I realized the "why"
of David's life.
Before he was placed on life support and was unable to speak
to us, I was sitting on a short stool beside his hospital bed
when David reached for my hand about 2:30 a.m. in the morning.
He smiled at me, told me he loved me and asked, "Sis, will
you hold my hand when .... you know?"
I knew from the look in his eye that he knew something I did
not even want to think about. I hugged him tightly, gave him
a kiss on the forehead and agreed to hold his hand until he
got better.
He closed his eyes to sleep. A few minutes later he began to
reach for things in the air. He appeared to be touching and
feeling of something. He would take whatever he saw into his
hand and bring it down to rest on his chest. After a long
while I asked him what he was doing. He said:
"I see them."
When I ask who he saw, his reply was that he did not know,
but they wanted him to come with them. I asked where they
were going and he shrugged his shoulders to indicate he did
not know. Then I asked,
"Do you want to go with them?"
His answer was loud and affirmative, "Yea-es!" Indicating
that I must be "duh" to think that he would not want to go
with whomever he was seeing.
One week later David's earthly body gave up. He could not
fight to stay alive for us any more. I had been holding his
hand and singing worship choruses to him for several hours.
He left this life behind as I was singing "Amazing Grace."
So many people attended his funeral. He had touched so many
different people. The main topic of conversation about David
at the funeral focused on the way he had touched and loved
so many people during his lifetime.
Then I remembered his prayer and this was God's answer.
The reason David was born with Downs Syndrome, and the
reason he was so different was so everyone who knew him
could learn to love, God's way, by watching David shine
with pure, unconditional, unfailing love, forgiveness
and longsuffering. What a wonderful man my brother was!
My heart breaks each time I think of the physical and
emotional suffering throughout his lifetime. But I smile
each time I think of what he meant to so many people.
His reason for being was to teach us how to truly love.
God's way.
~ Author Unknown ~
