We have all had that little voice of doubt in our heads. Sometimes it is about ourselves, sometimes it’s about our kids. Sometimes it sits on repeat and seems to attempt to create a new transcript in our head. It’s still there, though. Sometimes, the voice is benign. More often though, at least for me, it’s not. This voice is strategically placed there by Satan to try to steal my joy. We have to reject the lies that this voice tells us.

I have two autistic boys. They are in mainstream classrooms, but are approximately two years behind their peers. This has always been heartbreaking for me. Like any other momma, I don’t want to see my babies struggle. Today, I want to share some of the lies the enemy has told me about them and how I use God’s Word to contradict them, so that you can do it, too.

Lie #1: Your children’s disability will keep them from accomplishing their purpose.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “…before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” I am not saying that all our children are destined to be prophets to the nations. The truth is this: before anyone is born, God KNOWS them. He has a set apart purpose for all of us based on what He already knows to be true. God knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my boys would be autistic. He knew that. He knew exactly when they would learn to speak and read. He knows your children, too. Their disability cannot keep them from accomplishing their purpose.

Lie #2: If you do not keep them safe, you will lose them.

I want to preface this lie with the fact that it is based in truth. Any convincing lie must have a little truth to it. Yes, it is absolutely my job to keep my children safe. I am to make sure, to the best of my ability, that they don’t elope, eat things that are not food, and don’t harm each other…too much. They are brothers, after all. But that’s where my job ends and God’s begins. I get to model to my boys what it is to trust and have faith. Sometimes that trust starts small. I trust what I have taught my children will stick with them. I trust the Holy Spirit can remind them of all the wisdom they have been taught. I trust the Lord is with them even when I am not (Isaiah 41:10).

Photo credit: Jordan Rowland on Unsplash.com.

Lie #3: When I die, my children will be left helpless.

We have all thought it. Seriously, we have all thought this at one point or another as special needs parents. What happens when I die? Who will care for my child? Here’s the thing though, the promises God makes to us are just as applicable to our children. So when Matthew 6:25-26 tells us:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Jesus promises this to us and our children. Yes, it is vital for us to try our best to plan for our kids’ futures. For some of us, that means we need to plan for college. For others, that means we need to plan for future care. In the end, just like we rely on God to provide for us, so will they. God is too good to leave them alone. He will go with them wherever they go.

Lie #4: No one else will love your children.

This lie is the easiest for me to identify as the enemy. My children are cute, kind, patient, and fair. Of course someone will love them! J+K are both socially delayed. They love people; unfortunately, their friends don’t always understand how hard it is for them to read social cues. How will this translate when they are no longer innocent children but full-grown adults? What will it mean to them to be able to form real and lasting relationships? I simply don’t know. Perhaps this is another layer to why it is so important to me to make sure they have a lasting relationship with God. That they know the creator who made them. When they choose Him for themselves one day, they will always have and know great love. Moreover, they will know Love Himself. I want them to speak to God as Moses did, to really know Him as in Exodus 33:11. So nothing else will matter. In the same breath, I am certain God will provide them friends. I even pray for their wives one day.

I know some of you have people whom you adore that are much less likely to ever be independent. All these things are still true. I have a 30-year-old sister with a traumatic brain injury. She is, and will probably always be, developmentally about three years old. Trust me, I get it, but these truths that cover her also cover your loved ones. Speak the truth.

Only God’s word can and will snuff out Satan’s lies. God is able to consistently speak to any situation. He crafted your children, He colored their eyes and penciled in their dimples. He ministers to their soul. There comes a point where we have to remember that they are our babies, but they were God’s first. They are meant to be His long after we are gone. So mommas and daddies, pray for and with your children. Teach them life skills. Talk to them about God. He will take it from there. If Satan is whispering lies like this to you, call them what they are. He is doing so because he knows how deeply you love your child. Worry not! God loves them even more.

Joanna French is the special needs pastor at Flint Hills Church, Junction City, KS. Joanna and her husband Jairmie have two boys with autism. In 2017, Joanna started Flint Hills Embrace with the goal to make Flint Hills Church a place where everyone belongs. Why? Because we all have a place in God's plan.