When Anika and Kevin adopted a young boy who had been traumatized from birth, they quickly learned that he had a lot of rage, anger, and sadness—and it was daily going to be heaped onto his new mom.
Thankfully, Anika found a support group of similar moms that met every week or so. Suddenly, sanity! These women intimately understood her journey and could help navigate the choppy waters. For several years they shared stories, tears, groans, laughter, advice—and supported each other in hardships that would be difficult for an “outsider” to comprehend.
One day, when her son was seven years old, Anika heard about an initiative I had developed called The 30-Day Kindness Challenge, which helps improve your relationship with any person in your life. She instinctively felt God calling her to do it for her son. But she was a bit panicked about one of the main requirements: for 30 days, you say nothing negative about your person—either to them or about them to someone else! What about her support group? How would it work if she couldn’t say anything negative about her son and their struggles?
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