Seeing how Tatum responds to sinful actions has been a fascinating observation. I love to see her heart and how she learns from her errors.
Unfortunately I had to confront her last week of something I saw on the iPad. Deep down, she knew she had made a grave error, but she did not know what to do or who to talk to.
This is when I am SO VERY GRATEFUL we have such a strong bond. She may not come to me immediately, but usually within a day or so, she MUST talk to me and confess or share her heart. I NEVER had this safety or comfort with my mom nor really with ANYONE. Suffice it to say, I often felt completely alone and afraid. Moreover, I did not have a relationship with God through Jesus, so I was even more starkly isolated. I can see now the ramifications of this in my current heart state. GRATITUDE that I have Jesus now, but also realization that I still have undealt with trauma inside. (like many do).
Welllllll, I asked Tatum about this so called situation, and she at first, looked puzzled and denied. She even tried to hide it like Adam and Eve. BUT, within 2 minutes, she told me everything. And then she started to cry because she had NO IDEA this even existed. She questioned WHY WHY WHY would a woman do this?
IT BECAME A HUGE blessing because it opened up the lines of MORE communication about the sacredness of our bodies and the privacy of them, exposing them only to our husbands. (saving that precious gift). Anything else is a slap in the face of God’s design.
WOW. This is the way to LEARN! Otherwise, it just sounds like piety and prudeness.
THEN, the coolest thing happened. She wrote a story.
C.A.T.H.A.R.S.I.S. CONFESSION. LESSON LEARNED (early on in life!)
Accidental errors By: Tatum Hay
“Hey Opal, over here we have something to show you!” Opal’s friends,Harper, Zoe, August, and September were all standing huddled over a tablet. There was something sort of like a picture on the tablet and all the girls were gawking over the picture.
That night nine-year-old Opal sat on her bed, talking to her mom. “ Mom, what am I supposed to do? I’ve done everything to forget that one picture of that one woman naked, it’s so terrible! What am I supposed to do?” Opal’s brother , Greyson , who is five, walked into the room.
August walked up to Opal the next day at school, and started pulling Opal’s arm. “ come on Opal we’re gonna go look at that one picture again. Are you coming or what? My brother yesterday, whose name is Russell, told me everything that is on the web.” Opal stared at August and yanked her arm back. “I don’t wanna be your friend anymore you’re so mean to me! You do everything just to make me your friend! But I’m done with you, me and my mom talked it over last night!”
“Hey mom, I talked to August today we’re not friends anymore. Now I just gotta talk to Harper and September and all the others. Can I have a snack maybe like a cookie or something or a bag of Cheetos or something or-“ “Opal as much as I’m glad for you doing that,by the way that takes a lot of integrity, I can’t just forgive you ,snap ,just like that I just don’t know what to do. You’ve never done this before.“
That night Opal snuck outside with her phone. She went on Safari, and looked up naked women. She knew it was the wrong thing to do , But she did it anyways. “I know it’s the wrong thing to do God but please just forgive me for doing it just this once I’ll tell my mom and ask for forgiveness. You know what God I won’t get in trouble if I don’t tell my mom at all. Yes, that’s what I’ll do!“
The door cracked open, and her babysitter Dora, stepped outside. “Hey Opal, what are you doing out here? It’s midnight, you know?” Opal ducked behind a tree. Her entire body was shaking, and her mind was racing. She tried to hide her phone in her pocket.
“Opal! What are you doing!“ Opal’s mom ran outside and caught Opal staring at naked pictures on her phone.
Opal finally learned her lesson, but even though she begged for forgiveness, her mom still took away her phone for two months.
Two weeks past and she ditched all of her old friends. But she found three new BFFs, Wednesday, Peter, and Jocelyn.
Peter was a nice nine-year-old boy with brown hair that flung everywhere but when he wet it down with water, it stuck to his head like a magnet. He had three siblings, two sisters, and one brother, 12-year-old, Alyssa, 15-year-old, Fuchsia, and seven-year-old Grayson.
Wednesday, on the other hand had beautiful golden hair that was always held back with a nice, beautiful purple headband that sparkled in the sun. She had four siblings, Nevermore, who is 15 and a girl, Prairie who is a boy, nine and her twin, Johnson who is a boy and 12, and Rocky who is a girl and nine.
Jocelyn was a nice 10 year old girl, who had black hair that was always in a high ponytail, and she was the only child, but she didn’t get away with most everything in her house.
Months later, Peter,Jocelyn,Wednesday, and Opal started a prayer group at school. Several kids came a day to get prayers, but one day, Harper, the mean girl came over to get a prayer. “ Can you please pray for my mom, she’s fighting cancer. we used to be well, Christians, but ever since she got sick, we fell away. “