tom_munson_story_vietnam

Chapter 1 -5-
The farmer’s voice was firm. “We won’t change our mind,
Tommy. We want you to be our son.” “I don’t know,” he
spoke honestly. “Nobody ever askedwhat I wanted.”
“You’ll be part of our family,” the farmer reassured him.
“We’d like that.”
They let him think about the adoption for a time, and he
finally agreed. His new parents were kind to him, and being
on the farm was a healing experience; but he carried emotional
scars – especially his birth mother’s abandonment.
The years of rejection had taken their toll, and by age 14
he was deeply depressed.
One day, watching the cattle on the farm, he asked his
dad how the calves knew which one was their mother.
“Animals have a sense about that,” the farmer offered.
“They can always tell which one is theirs.”
“Too bad people don’t have that sense,” Tom retorted.
His feeling of despair grew until one night he snuck a
knife from the kitchen and took it to his room, determined
to end his life. Instead, in desperation, he fell weeping to his
knees and cried out to God: “Save me! Forgive me and help
me to be loved!”
After that he felt hope for the future, but the bitterness
toward his birth mother remained stuck in his heart, an
emotional splinter he could feel but not reach to remove.
The years passed, and Tom graduated from high school.
Republished by Witnessing Made Easy 2018