The world might seem to have a lot to offer, but as it applies to the caring of a child or loved one with special needs, it offers us things that won’t make us happy and won’t deliver what we need. The world will always lack authenticity and the act of serving will not be very high on the rung of the ladder, by world standards.
God convicted me. He challenged how much I believed it. What would my and my husband’s actions tell us? Were we believing God for His plan for our son, or were we expecting Him to help with ours? Were we open to the possibility that His plans might be different from what we’ve envisioned?
Did I trust God’s plan for the life of my child with disabilities? Did I trust God’s plan for the life of my child with disabilities during his frequent medical crises as a baby? Did I trust God’s plan for the life of my child with disabilities when he was a young adult? Do I trust his plans now?
When we care for our child(ren) with special needs, it’s self-sacrificing. It is more than a “job” as some might say, it is an undertaking (as one of my friends shared so succinctly with me). Yet some of us have a different level and depth of care. Although our son needs 24/7 attention and care, he can do a good number of things on his own. Cindi Ferrini shares the difference between Self-less and Selfless.
When people find out that I am a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the mother of a child with Down syndrome, I am often asked about the order of these life events. Did my daughter inspire my career or was it a coincidence?
I thought a lot about Jack, whether he had gained anything at all from his time at Spring Harvest, whether he had been impacted by any of the spiritual program in his sessions. Had he just been child-minded, busying himself with his Jenga wooden blocks, or had something more than that reached him? A few weeks later, I got the answer to my questions.
This morning, as I planned for the day, I saw that my son’s physical therapist would be coming to the house this afternoon. This morning there was a moment when I felt like a failure, but that feeling quickly passed. I remembered how several years back, that feeling often lingered with me for days at a time, but not anymore.
