A Boy Named David

When He first entered into our home and into my life, I noted a boy who in appearance and attitude seemed much younger than his 13 years. As a gift for my children, I drew individual colorful pictures for each child, with their name as the main focus. I handed him a paper and pen, and asked him to write his name so I could make his. He handed them back to me and ran to get one of the older boys. Despite already being in the 8th grade and the 2nd oldest in our home, he wasn’t even able to spell his own name.

One day when I was teaching English to the children I asked him to say his alphabet, as tears brimmed his eyes I sensed the shame he had to endure. I made a deal with him that if he would allow me to teach him his English alphabet he could teach me the alphabet in his mother tongue. Now today we’re both reading at an elementary level in the new languages.

Next to the other boys he always seemed to fall short with sports, academics, art, etc.…. Sometimes he was ridiculed by others for his lack of achievements. His confidence began to shake and the result was event in his attitude. Over the course of the year he was with he began to grow and develop but it seemed a slow process.

One night, I was individually praying over the children. When it became his turn the Lord began to speak to me. For nearly half an hour I shared with him what the Lord saying. I told him the story of Samuel going to anoint a king from Jessie’s sons. When Samuel saw Jessie’s oldest sons, he looked at them and thought surely these fine, strong, handsome men would make great kings. But the Lord rejected all of them. Instead God chose the weakest, the smallest, the youngest boy, David.

No one expected David to amount to much. No one saw him as anything great or important. Yet God saw his heart and said that he chose from amongst them all to be a leader.

I told him that the Lord was saying that he also had the same heart of David. And even though he was small and seemingly unimportant, despite that others didn’t expect him to amount to much, that the Lord had called him to be leader. As I spoke his identity over him he began to weep. I finished, and prayed once more with him before sending him to bed.

The next morning he came to me and shared that he hadn’t slept that night, instead he spent the night thinking about my words. He said that he did want to leader and to show the little ones in our home how to be. Then he asked if I would from that day on call him David.

David’s identity and how he views himself changed as truth was spoken over him. He now has a name to live up to. I have watched as the new name serves a deeper purpose of creating a new self, one who is no longer destined for failure. The change has been fast an evident. The effort he now puts into watching his words and action is clear and he has made leaps and bounds in improving his studies.

The Lord is using David as an example to the other boy in our home and I anticipated what David’s future holds for him.