I am a bit of a control freak. Shhhhh. Don't tell my family I have admitted to this teensy flaw. Just because I like things to go my way a good deal of the time doesn't mean I'm controlling. I'm just usually right, right? (This makes sense in my head.) So when it comes to illness in our house, I take control. We DO NOT want sickness in our house. Sickness is bad in anyone's home, but in a special needs home? It is the devil. Sickness can bring down the almighty routine faster than any other change. Sickness means medicine changes, food changes, sleep - what is this sleep of which you speak? Sickness can mean doctors or even worse, a midnight run to the hospital. So when I say I am a control freak, with illness, I take the bull by the horns.
So when I was the one who walked right in the front door with the whopper of all illnesses I had nothing left to control. I had taken all the precautions, Lysoled all the door knobs, coughed into all the inner elbows (a.k.a. Chelidon or cubital fossa), sent everyone the CDC flyers on why they should get flu shots (oh yes, I did), I might have even resorted to those new fangled essential oils. But what happens when I get sick, when I bring that devil right into my house? Bye-bye, control.
What do we do when illness comes knocking and we've done all we can do? What do we do when a diagnosis even worse than expected comes to call? Sometimes it seems our special needs kids get heaps upon heaps of one more thing. Just when we think they couldn't possibly have another diagnosis, they do. To whom do we turn when we've done all we can do? When you lose all control in your special needs world, where do you turn?
Maybe I never had control to begin with, ya' think? I like to believe I had total control, but I think we know who controls this outcome. I can spray, diffuse, inoculate or duck and cover all the day long. But when the day is done, I have to let go and give control over to the only one who ever really had it to begin with. He is my refuge and strength, my armor and protection. He tells me to not dread the disease that stalks in darkness or the disaster that strikes at midday (Psalms 91). If I hold this promise true for me, then I hold even tighter to this truth for my child in his many needs.
How many times have I read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3)? You know the one? Spoiler alert: they are saved from the fiery furnace. But go back to the beginning, where it says, "The God we serve is able to save us...but even if he doesn't...we will never serve your gods." They knew God could do it, but still may choose to not do it. Yet, they gave God all the control. They got in that furnace fully knowing God may choose to not save them. (Thanks, MercyMe for the new look on this old story.)
What furnace are you in today? When you finally lose all control in your special needs world, where do you turn? To whom are you giving control?
Me? I give God control ... aaaaand then I take it back again. It's a tug o' war battle I'm constantly losing. I lost all control this week. God made it pretty clear this special needs walk has nothing to do with how many door knobs I wipe. So, I'm giving control back to Him for a while.
My husband and I are parents of all boys. One of whom is a young adult with both physical and intellectual disabilities. I don't always know what I'm doing as I parent these guys. But what I do know is God is teaching me big things through our trials that I probably would have never learned without them. You can find more from me at www.mostlyeandme.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @stefmckeever.
