How many of us counted the cost (both emotionally and financially) of what it would take to raise a child and/or care for an aging parent? Many are doing both…Because we love our child, we don’t often consider the cost because we simply do what is needed and want the best for them.
My daughter arrived in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the middle of the night on the eve of Thanksgiving. A tough respiratory virus attacked her lungs, and she needed a substantial amount of oxygen support. And now, this unexpected illness meant Thanksgiving was going to be completely different than we had all planned.
Are you scrounging for thankfulness this holiday season? Holidays can be a challenge for those walking through hard days. Perhaps you feel like you've been handed the short-end of the stick; your child is struggling, you’re exhausted and it seems like everybody else has life with a bit more gravy. It’s easy to focus on our circumstances, take stock of what we have and where we are and end up feeling completely void of thankfulness. Is there a cure for this?
I first suspected I had ADHD as a teenager, but finding the right professional to take me seriously was much harder than I expected. Previous attempts only ended in frustration and tears.
Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me?
I could almost hear the voice speaking into my heart. That was weird for me because I can count on one hand the number of times when God has spoken to me that manner. That simple truth—that Jesus cares about the small things—allowed me to comprehend the passage in a new light. And this new perspective can be applied to the very human endeavor of parenting children with special needs and disabilities.
Gasp and sacrilege! How dare I entertain the idea of the mother of God worrying about the divine child entrusted to her care. Until I remember that, though this baby boy was fully divine and fully human, his mother was not. Instead of asking What did Mary worry about?, maybe this is what I should ask instead: What did Mary, a human mom like me and you, do with her worries?
