{"id":15,"date":"2026-01-14T12:40:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/?p=15"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:28:54","slug":"therapy-brings-healing-and-an-answered-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/therapy-brings-healing-and-an-answered-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Therapy Brings Healing and an Answered Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sat in my car at the school bus stop, waiting for my 14-year-old daughter, my heart racing with anxiety<\/a>. \u201cGod, please let Kennedi be on that bus,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n

That morning, when I dropped her off at the bus stop, she stormed out of the car, shouting tearfully, \u201cI hate my life, and you just don\u2019t understand! I\u2019m not coming home after school!\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been like that for weeks. All of a sudden, my considerate and high-achieving daughter was talking back<\/a> to my husband, Kenny, and me. Being dishonest. Telling me she hated her life and thought I was a terrible mom.<\/p>\n

The changes started after Christmas break, when volleyball season was over and she fell in with a new group of friends. Seemingly overnight, my 14 years of hard work as a parent went out the window. I prayed. Doubled down on rules. Begged Kennedi to tell me what was going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand anything about me!\u201d she shouted during one of our many confrontations.<\/p>\n

She was right about that.<\/p>\n

I had worked so hard to be a perfect parent. Even before Kennedi was born, I was reading parenting books<\/a> and thinking ahead. Rocking her to sleep one evening when she was a baby, I had felt her little back arch as she yawned and stretched out her arm toward me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, my sweet girl,\u201d I\u2019d said, kissing her forehead. I wanted the best for my daughter, whatever it took.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d felt the same love three years later, when Kennedi\u2019s little sister, Kassadi, was born. Kenny and I were intentional about everything. What our family ate. How much sleep and exercise the girls got.<\/p>\n

We took them to church, read stories from their children\u2019s Bible and taught them how to pray<\/a>. We took the book of Proverbs seriously: \u201cTrain up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time Kennedi was in middle school, I thought we were a model family. Our girls earned good grades, won medals at track meets and were growing in their faith.<\/p>\n

Granted, I did a lot of nagging and fussing behind closed doors. But there was nothing wrong with having high standards and presenting your best self to the world. I took the same approach in my corporate career.<\/p>\n

The summer before high school, Kennedi had suffered a serious running injury and had to quit track<\/a>. She was depressed, but I thought she\u2019d bounced back after joining the school volleyball team in the fall.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I was wrong. I didn\u2019t know where to turn. When I was growing up, mental health<\/a> and behavioral issues simply weren\u2019t talked about. They were considered a sign of weakness and swept under the rug.<\/p>\n

I had no intention of taking Kennedi to see a therapist. I didn\u2019t need everyone knowing about my family\u2019s problems. Besides, weren\u2019t prayer and adherence to discipline enough?<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, I need a solution,\u201d I whispered at the bus stop.<\/p>\n

Kennedi came home that day, looking as miserable as ever. She didn\u2019t say a word to me on the drive home.<\/p>\n

It was the same thing every day. My anxiety was going through the roof. And Kennedi wasn\u2019t the only one stressing me out.<\/p>\n

Nearly a year earlier, before Kennedi\u2019s track injury and any hint of trouble, Kenny and I had offered to help some acquaintances who\u2019d adopted a child named Naomi from Ethiopia<\/a>. Naomi, who was now 13, had endured a difficult upbringing and was having trouble acclimating to life in the United States.<\/p>\n

Kenny and I had said Naomi could live with our family until she felt ready to return to her adoptive parents<\/a>. We thought being in a stable, church-going African American family might help her bridge the gap with her new environment.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for me to realize how unprepared I was for the ramifications of our altruistic gesture. Naomi had serious mental health issues<\/a>. She was being helped by a social worker, a therapist and a psychiatrist. Before she even arrived at our house, we\u2019d received a thick file with her mental health records, including a list of medications and all sorts of other things to coordinate.<\/p>\n

Naomi moved in just a few weeks after Kennedi started acting out. I had to find a therapist and psychiatrist for Naomi; we lived two hours from her previous providers. A therapist who attended our church gave me recommendations.<\/p>\n

One, an art therapist, bonded with Naomi right away. I was amazed at how quickly this woman was able to draw Naomi out of her shell with art projects<\/a> and gentle, compassionate conversation.<\/p>\n

After more research, I also made an appointment with a psychiatrist at a children\u2019s hospital in Philadelphia. I was nervous the day of the appointment as Naomi and I stepped from the elevator and approached the behavioral health unit. I envisioned a chaotic place full of uncontrollable children.<\/p>\n

We stepped into a quiet, pleasant waiting room with magazines on a table and parents and teens checking their phones or reading. I felt guilty about my expectations. Typical mental health stereotypes. What other misconceptions did I have?<\/p>\n

As with the art therapist, I was floored by the psychiatrist\u2019s ability to get Naomi talking. She probed deeper in a half hour than Naomi had gone the entire time I\u2019d known her.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t always sit in on Naomi\u2019s appointments, so I didn\u2019t know everything her providers said. Still, Naomi invariably emerged from her sessions a little calmer and more grounded. I wished I could have the same effect on Kennedi.<\/p>\n

A month after Naomi arrived, I got a phone call from Kennedi\u2019s school. She had violated the school\u2019s code of conduct. She was suspended, and I had to come pick her up.<\/p>\n

Kennedi holed up in her room. I sat with my head in my hands, at a loss for what to do. Kenny was away at a game with the high school basketball team he coaches. I was on my own.<\/p>\n

Should I storm in and read Kennedi the riot act? Ground her? Try to unlock the dark feelings behind her behavior?<\/p>\n

I thought about Naomi\u2019s therapists. What would they recommend? And why hadn\u2019t I sought help like that for Kennedi already? I realized my prejudices against therapy<\/a> were totally unfounded. Naomi\u2019s providers were no different from the doctors who had treated Kennedi\u2019s running injury.<\/p>\n

I knew what I had to do.<\/p>\n

After talking everything through with Kenny, I took out the list of therapists I\u2019d assembled for Naomi, found one that accepted our insurance and made an appointment.<\/p>\n

Kenny, Kennedi and I attended that first appointment together. Just as with Naomi, the therapist seemed to know exactly how to talk to Kennedi. Within a few minutes, deep emotions<\/a> were pouring out of our daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel depressed<\/a>, Mom and Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re so strict.\u201d\u201c<\/p>\n

You make it seem like I have to be perfect<\/a> all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no freedom compared to everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

More came out. Kennedi was still devastated about her running injury. Sports had been a huge part of her identity. The injury was still affecting her when she joined the volleyball team, so she got no playing time that first season. She\u2019d fallen for a boy, but the relationship\u2014her first time dating\u2014had ended abruptly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I don\u2019t even want to live,\u201d she said. She confessed she\u2019d cut herself<\/a> a few times.<\/p>\n

Kenny and I sat there in the therapist\u2019s office in shock. Our daughter had been struggling, and I\u2019d been too blinded by my perfectionism<\/a> to offer genuine help. I was transported back to those evenings when I\u2019d rocked Kennedi to sleep as a baby. All I wanted to do was gather her in my arms and say, \u201cI love you, my sweet girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

The therapist gave us some tips for having more productive conversations at home and said she would see us the following week.<\/p>\n

It took time, but things improved. I made a serious effort to stop preaching to my daughter and worked on cultivating my own fruits of the spirit<\/a>, especially patience and self-control.<\/p>\n

I learned that when Kennedi seemed moody or standoffish, the right question was \u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d Not \u201cWhy are you talking to me like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

I paid attention to my daughter\u2019s steps forward and commended her for working hard. I didn\u2019t focus on her shortcomings<\/a> and stopped obsessing over what people would think about our family.<\/p>\n

For a while, our schedule seemed to be one therapy appointment after another. Following the death of my brother from Covid, we even found a therapist for Kassadi. She had been close to him, and grief<\/a> had hit her hard.<\/p>\n

Naomi\u2019s mental health gradually improved until, three years after arriving at our house, she felt ready to return to her adoptive parents.<\/p>\n

It was hard to say goodbye. I reassured myself that she was only two hours away and we could visit often. Her mother texted regularly with updates. Naomi joined her new school\u2019s cross-country team, earned good grades and found a circle of friends.<\/p>\n

Each time a photo of Naomi\u2019s smiling face arrived on my phone, I responded with my own smile and a whispered \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naomi\u2019s arrival sure hadn\u2019t felt like an answer to my desperate prayer<\/a>s. God, of course, knew better.<\/p>\n

Turns out, we all had a lot to learn, me especially. I know now that caring for a child\u2019s mental health is an important part of \u201ctraining her up in the way she should go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedi graduated high school with honors and now studies public health in college. She\u2019s a mental health advocate. She shares her experiences and encourages others to seek help<\/a> when they need it. I do the same with parents I meet. I hope I can spare others the shame and helplessness I felt.<\/p>\n

Kennedi, Kassadi and Naomi continue to meet with therapists regularly to stay on top of their mental health. It\u2019s not quite how I envisioned things all those years ago when I planned out a perfect future for my girls.<\/p>\n

Yet I want the best for them, and that means seeking help<\/a> when needed, whether from pastors, doctors or therapists. And God, of course. Like all parents, I don\u2019t always know what\u2019s best for my daughters. But God does. The more I trust him, the more I become the mom I always wanted to be.<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sat in my car at the school bus stop, waiting for my 14-year-old daughter, my heart racing with anxiety. \u201cGod, please let Kennedi be on that bus,\u201d I whispered. That morning, when I dropped her off at the bus stop, she stormed out of the car, shouting tearfully, \u201cI hate my life, and you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,183,136,361],"tags":[25,29],"ppma_author":[1320],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friends-and-family","category-parenting","category-positive-living","category-teenagers","tag-family","tag-parenting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTherapy Brings Healing and an Answered Prayer - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Therapy Brings Healing and an Answered Prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I sat in my car at the school bus stop, waiting for my 14-year-old daughter, my heart racing with anxiety. \u201cGod, please let Kennedi be on that bus,\u201d I whispered. 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