Go Beyond

Our local ABC News affiliate station posted a story online today under title: Mom accused of burning daughter’s face with iron.

Now, that’s the kind of headline that gets your attention in a hurry. A 42 year-old woman named Hope Adele Askew is charged with burning her 10 year-old daughter’s face with a hot iron.

The alleged incident happened on Monday, April 11 at Askew’s northeast Harris County residence. According to a probable cause document, Askew was ironing clothes and became angry with her daughter for not reading words correctly in a book. So, in the spirit of Mommie Dearest, Askew took the iron and burned her daughter twice on the left side of her face.

And, to make matters worse, she waited before getting her daughter medical attention. Thankfully a family member who is a registered nurse had the courage to report the injury to Child Protective Services. Askew is being held under $10,000 bond.

Something is clearly askew with Askew.

I find it difficult to comprehend how a parent can do something so terrible and painful to a child. Askew has injured her daughter in more ways than one. If the burn imprint of the iron remains on her daughter’s face, that little girl will be reminded of this terrible incident every time she looks in the mirror and every time someone stares at her in public.

And, if the scar fades, the young girl will still have to deal with the imprint that the hot iron left on her heart — the kind of scar that is not visible to the naked eye and often takes longer to heal. Proverbs 14:13 reminds us, “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.”

My heart aches for Askew’s 10 year-old daughter whose memories of her mother will always be tarnished by her mother’s senseless and inexcusable act of stupidity and cruelty.

My heart also aches for Hope Adele Askew, a woman who has betrayed the beauty of her first name and lived up to the meaning of her last name, a woman whose own heart is seriously out of alignment.

I am not a therapist or a medical examiner, but I venture to say that if someone were to peel back the layers and expose this woman’s heart, we would likely find evidence of scarring there — the kind of stuff that makes people do stupid things.

Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).

Let’s pray that young Miss Askew gets the kind of help she needs to deal with the scars, seen and unseen, that she will bear for a lifetime. And let’s also pray for her mother to get the kind of help she needs. Thankfully God specializes in healing wounded hearts and in straightening out the things that are askew in our lives.