WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Strength & Dignity: The Sound of Hope

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

In this episode, Michaela discusses the new movie Sound of Hope and the great impact every mother and father has on a child's life. 

Hello and welcome to Strength and Dignity. This is Mickeyla Estreth and you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. So today I'm going to continue on the trend of not turning to Ms. Magazine and actually talk about something different, not from an article on that website, but I actually wanted to discuss the new movie that was released in theaters just this past week, Sound of Hope. I got to go see that this past weekend for some coverage. that I do for the Colson Center, and I watched the movie, had some thoughts and thought it would be helpful and beneficial and interesting to feature it and discuss it here on Strength and Dignity. So the plot of the movie shows this family, this pastor's family in a small town in Texas,

and they have two children, and then they go through the foster care system and eventually adopt three more children and they become exemplars to their community and encourage others around them to do the same. So eventually, 22 families adopt 77 kids from the foster care system in this small town called Possum Trot in Texas. And it's based off of a true story and it really does display the struggles and the hardships and the pain and the suffering of the children and also of the families and the challenge of adoption and yet the Christian duty and call that many Christians have to adopt and the example of that through God's adoption of us as sons in Christ. So I wanted to play the trailer for you and then break down some highlights from the movie

and discuss it. Here's some of the trailer. I told him to water. He just fell apart. One, what's your emergency? I teach you to know why mommy. He's doing something bad to her. I would do. Give me my money. I take it out of my money.

I feel like I'm the only one who sees these things. The Department of Protective Services can't stop this. And we need your help. Mama left us without warning. I want to love like Mama did. Adoption? How are we going to do this with all we got already going on? Can you imagine La Dada?

Can you imagine La Dana or Prince on their own if nobody took them in? Wait for the day to come. I think they're here. Are you sure these people want us? Oh, sweetheart. I know they do. The other night, my new son was terrified of the hot water. So it's time that we put our eyes on the cheer. Religious guilt can't fix the broken child's heart.

Love can. We got over 20 families that won't kids. We'll tell you once kids know. This shouldn't be a child without all. We can turn this whole thing around. Time to carry you. And then the year started coming. With stories that just how at your insides.

We're doing something almost nobody else would. We're family. This time that we do this together, Judge. What's happening with Possum Trot has the attention of the state. I am beautiful. I am strong. You are gift. gift and you are only ever meant to be loved.

So that's the official trailer for Sound of Hope. And as you can tell, there are some very intense parts. There's some very heartwarming parts of the movie. And so I wanted to just address some of the specifics that got to me. First of all, early on in the movie, the mom, the main mom in this movie, she has two children and one of them has some sort of disability. It's not very clear throughout the movie what it is, but he is very dependent on both of his parents for help. And she says there's some line in the movie early on that she says he's forever my baby, that I will always be taking care of him.

And that really struck me to the core, just the sacrifice in those words and the humility that that takes to recognize that, you know, the growth of children and the raising of children, ideally, hopefully turns to them becoming adults and them leaving the home and going out and then eventually raising their own children. And yet there are children or other circumstances that make that not a reality that parents are parents for the rest of their lives and in a very real sense through provision and protection and taking care of a child who is actually an adult but is dependent upon his parents, his or her parents. And that's, as I've shared before, a blessing and a challenge that my family has faced throughout my parents' raising of my oldest brother, Daniel.

And I don't think I realized as a child that sacrifice because it was just part of my daily life. And then going to college and leaving the home made me realize more and more what that sacrifice means long term and the great humility that it takes and the daily sacrifice and giving of oneself that it takes to provide for him and to care for him and to put his needs above everyone else's and just daily things that you would never even think about until you have the protection of a child under you in a very real sense who is extremely dependent on you. And so again, I just so admire both of my parents for the way that they have raised my brother and that the way that they have taught us to truly value every life and see them all as equal

and precious in the eyes of the Lord. And so that scene, and especially that line and sound of hope really spoke to me just in my own personal circumstances. is. And what was interesting about that at the beginning of the movie was that the mother didn't want any more kids. She was actually talking to her mom, the grandma, and she was saying, I want more grandbabies. And she was saying, Mom, I can. I don't have the ability to take care of more children. Two is enough. It's all I can take. And then eventually in the movie, she ends up taking three more. And just kind of wanted to point out both the reality of two is enough. It's all I can take. and then her accepting the Lord's call following it and being obedient to take more children.

And so, again, especially in her circumstance with her son's disabilities, it makes complete sense for her to say, I can't take anymore. I can't provide for anymore. And I was thinking throughout this movie as I was watching it, the balance of prudence and wisdom and obedience to the Lord because there were some significant things that arose throughout the movie that were great challenges financially or in the community because families adopted several children at the same time or brought them into a very small home or didn't have the financial stability to care for them all and it was something I wrestled with throughout the movie of, okay, how can you, as a Christian, if you really feel called to adopt, balance this

of, yes, adopting and following the Lord's call, but also being financially prudent and being prudent in other ways and the balance that it takes to adapt a new child to the already familial circumstances in your family. And so, yeah, just the movie brought up a lot of questions and things to wrestle with and just my own pondering. That was one of the first scenes I wanted to address was her, the mother's wrestling with having a disabled child and then eventually how to manage these challenges. So another thing that was addressed throughout the movie or mentioned throughout the movie was this one mother as kind of being the beacon or the exemplar to all the other families

in the community. So she really did advocate for this adoption of all of these children. And, again, I had thoughts because the way that she went about it wasn't necessarily the most respectful way to her husband or to his leadership. And I don't know if that was just for theatrical drama or if it was actually the circumstance, obviously not my place to speak on. but the point is that all everyone in the community was looking to this woman and there were several times that she was struggling she had adopted three children and there were different points of conflict there was different pain that you heard in the trailer and especially through the adoption of a teenage girl and just the struggles and the pushback and the disrespect and

everything that they faced as parents to this girl the child services age and then also the woman's husband, both separate times throughout the movie, looked at her and said, everyone is watching you, you can't fail. Everyone is looking to you. And if you fail in this, if you have to give back this child or you just give up, then everyone else is going to lose hope. And I thought that that was really interesting because it's a very human thing to do is to feel very lost and to feel alone and not know what to do except to look to others. And it's something beautiful about the Christian community is running the race, walking the race, walking the race alongside one another. And some people may be a few steps ahead in the race and they turn around and you can see them

smiling and you run to catch up with them or they slow down and come and run by you for a few miles or however you want to take the analogy. But it is true that Christians need community and they need encouragement and they need examples. And that is exactly what this woman was providing for as a pastor's wife and to the people in her community. And I think it's also extremely significant to say that this is what essentially every mother does to other moms and to children. And, It's really obviously funny to look back when I was a kid and to look at all of the moms who I thought had it all together and were perfect and I could never be there. Or I just, I had obviously this utmost respect for them. And I watched my own mom pour into other moms.

And I didn't, obviously as a kid, I didn't really understand like, oh, mom's getting coffee with another mom. Of course, they're friends. Like that's super chill. but I didn't realize until later how much my mom was in influence in other mom's lives in encouraging them, especially through my mom's journey with my brother and his disabilities in the way of just teaching them to trust in the Lord and teaching them both practically and spiritually how to work through challenging times and to be a mentor to them to be a friend to them. And that's exactly what the Bible calls us to do, especially again as we, the theme of this show,

Strength and Dignity is based off of Proverbs 31. And the Proverbs 31 woman is known in the streets and she's an encouragement to her children. And she's an encouragement to other women in the community. And so I just really appreciated the way that that was played out in this movie as well. And it wasn't meant in the movie it was often seen with some pressure of you cannot fail. But I also wanted to take that and say it's not a pressure to women. but it should be an encouragement that no matter who you are, you are speaking into other people's lives. You, as the mother of your own children, are speaking into their lives into any of the children that your children know.

Whenever you host them for playdates or, you know, have them over for dinner, you're being an example to those kids and teaching them in the way of the Lord, teaching them respect. and then as a mother to other women you are being an encouragement to to young women who want who dream of being a mother someday and to fellow mothers who need encouragement and that is a beautiful thing and a joy that women i think have a unique gift for and that they get to do in the lord's design is to truly be that vessel of encouragement and an exemplar of how to raise a family and how to do it well and also how to accept and acknowledge the struggles and challenges that come to every family. This is Mickey Las Truth and you're listening to Strength and Dignity. Today we're talking about the recent movie Sound of Hope and Christian adoption.

Okay, so I mentioned that also in this movie, this couple adopts a young teenage girl. And that kind of becomes the forefront of the plot. for the rest of the movie is this young girl who is coming from an extremely traumatic home situation of rejection from her mother and physical and sexual abuse as a child. And it's heartbreaking. And she eventually, a coping mechanism that sounds extremely peculiar, but you see throughout the movie is that she pretends to be a cat because she doesn't, she, she is definitely struggling with mental illness or depression and, you know, insecurities.

And she, her coping mechanism is to be a cat. And that comes from the neglect that she experienced as a child. And so almost like deceiving herself that she's no better than a cat or just to be easier or to comfort herself the way that a cat would comfort itself. And so you see this poor girl struggling. and then the way that the parents have to deal with that of how do we discipline her, how do we speak to her, how do we set rules in our household that she should follow. And so my points here are a few.

First, that kids in the foster care system and the adoption care system are coming from these backgrounds that create trauma, that create pain and suffering. and in the movie, the child services agent gave a quote that she said 70% of these kids are in the system because of poverty neglect and so they don't have a home and they're not being taken care of. And then the other 30% are there because of abuse or a dangerous home situation, a dangerous environment. And you really see the struggling and the suffering and the trauma and the way that they are triggered.

I mean, you heard it in the trailer of that little boy. starting to sob at just the sound of water in a tub. And it's hard to know what happened or why that's his emotional response and how parents work through that. And so that was, again, something that I was wrestling with in my mind of the prudence and the true intentionality and clear direction that you need in the adoption process that you can't just say, well, I'm going to go adopt, you know, five kids and everything will be fine, that as everyone knows, adoption is a long process and it takes time and it takes finances. It takes prayer, most importantly. And it's, it should be just surrounded in prayer and wisdom. Because it's a very serious situation and a very,

and you're bringing a child in who has suffered tremendously. So again, going back to this teenage girl, a few things that she experienced both in her trauma, but also that I think in a way are heightened things that many young women experience. So her insecurities and her identity crises, especially young teenage women in my heart, really just hurts for young women, especially in our culture today, and the messages that they're being told and what they're being told is beautiful and how they view themselves. It's really sad to hear and painful. And I mean, teenage years, everyone says, are not the most glorious or exciting or fun. They actually are extremely challenging and hard and very emotional for teenage

girls. And so this young girl goes through an identity crisis and she has a lot of physical insecurity. And sadly, she seeks that through physical affirmation. And so she gives herself away at school and then you see the emotional trauma and pain that she has from that. And even just in the aftermath and her regret in doing that. And yet a continued. cycle of that's where she finds affirmation. And so that's what she does. And then she regrets it. And you may have heard it in the trailer, but it's a scene in the movie that she's

clashing with her sister from in the family and the family that she's been adopted into. And she steals her sister's clothes and she wants to be pretty like that girl. And so she's staring at a mirror telling herself, I'm beautiful. I'm beautiful because that's what her mom, the woman who adopted. her told her, and yet she doesn't believe it. And it's, it's truly just so sad to see. And so, again, speaking to the moms out there who are exemplars to young women and both the child looking to her mother and also to other mothers of what is a woman and what is womanhood, what is femininity, why is it beautiful, how is it beautiful? And really communicating that and making

that a discussion, I think is extremely important for especially teenage girls who are going through their own identity crises and trying to find how they can be affirmed and how they can seek approval and gain approval and praise for who they are. And we just don't want them turning in the wrong direction. And so, again, I hope that this was just an encouragement to all the mothers out there, almost like a second Mother's Day feature, that your daily job and the work that you do every hour, every minute is not unnoticed, that it's extremely significant and important. And we are all very thankful. And just, yeah, an encouragement to keep doing what you do and to be loving to your children and encouraging to the women around you.

So I just want to close with a few stats based off of Sound of Hope. Again, this is a an adoption movie and based on the foster hero system. And so I did some research and the Christians are a significant portion of families in the adoption system. And so it says that Christian families are 50% more likely to adopt and that 65% of families who have adopted say that they attend church weekly. So I just would want to encourage Christians that adopt. is a calling, that it's obviously a demonstration of Christ's love and of God's love for us, but that doesn't mean that every single Christian should adopt. It also means that it should be taken in wisdom and in prayer.

The Lord is working, and he's working in these children and he's working through these families. And it was just, again, a joy to see the movie and to wrestle in my own heart with the challenges and with the realities of the world that we live in. That's all I have for today. Thanks for listening to Strength and Dignity. This is Michaela Estreuth, and you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.