"The Faith Prisoners". You have to admit, it could be a catchy title for a new mini-series or a new book. But if you think about it...isn't each believer a "prisoner" of his/her own individual faith? I use the word "prisoner" because I have found it difficult to abandon my faith, even though I've always been perfectly free to do so. I mean, here I am...loving the Lord with my heart, raising a differently-abled child, and all while trying desperately to trust God and stay true to my faith in Him. That's a really tall order! I'm not saying that being a faith prisoner is a bad thing, but I find it interesting that, although intangible, my faith in God has had the power to move mountains and cause many miracles to occur in my life. Pretty amazing stuff!
Have you ever wanted to cash in your faith tokens and walk away though? I have. Many, many times, but I can't. My faith in God and in His Word is so strong! When we want to give up, isn't it our faith that tells us that we can't? When we want to believe and fear the worst, isn't it our faith reminds us of God's promise that no weapon formed against us will prosper? When our emotions have taken a beating, doesn't it seem as if the solid foundation of our faith is always there to give us something to hold onto until we can stand strong again? So here's the question we must each ask ourselves: "Am I going to believe what the Word says about God's will for my life and the lives of my children or am I going to set my believing on only what I can see being manifested in my situation right now?"
The Bible calls faith the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Even our salvation is based on faith and confession. We've never seen Jesus with our eyes, yet we believe in Him and the atonement He made for us on the cross. Because we believe and have confessed Jesus as our savior, we are saved. Awesome start, but let's not stop there! Let's believe God and receive all that He has promised us in His Word. Believing can't happen in your head when it comes to matters of faith. You must believe in your heart!
So starting today, pledge to give God's answers to your problems at least as much of your attention as you give to the medical community's answers to those same problems. There are no limits to what God can do, for with Him nothing is impossible.
"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible" Mark 10:27
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Don't Forget To Celebrate
I have to admit that I'd never thought about anyone forgetting how to smile or laugh. Smiling and laughing seem to just happen, whether we think about it or not. I learned an important lesson and smiling and laughing a few years back.
In 2003, Christina was just three years old. Three years of listening to and watching her tantrum for hours on end had finally taken its toll. I thought that I was "handling" everything quite well. Christina had received a year of Early Intervention services and she was now transitioning into our county's preschool special education program. She was on a strict gluten/casein free diet. She received speech therapy 2-3 times a week and she had some of the best doctors in the state. I worried about my older children and how having a sibling who required so much of me would affect them, so I enrolled them in SibShops at a local hospital. (SibShops are basically support groups for the siblings of children with special needs). Oh yeah...I had everything covered. Then, on our very first Respitality Weekend in VA beach (provided by Cerebral Palsy of VA), something strange happened while Russell and I were eating dinner. We were away from the children and finally enjoying each other's company again. That's when it happened. I LAUGHED! It was only then that I realized that I had not had a good laugh (or probably even cracked a smile) in months! It was a great feeling, but I was alarmed because it felt so foreign to me.
That night I vowed to keep my head up and to keep laughing. By nature, I am a funny person. I love to laugh and I love to see others happy. The challenges that having a differently-abled child has brought us almost distracted me so much that I'd begun to live my life on auto-pilot. Not anymore! Yes, there are still some really hard days, but I have the blessed assurance that God will always see us through. You can have that same assurance. Don't allow your child's challenges to define you (or your child). Don't allow details about doctor's appointments and therapy sessions to dominate every conversation that you have with others. Learn to take one day at a time and to find at least one thing every day to smile or laugh about.
The Bible says that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. That has been very true for me. Why not give it a try yourself?
In 2003, Christina was just three years old. Three years of listening to and watching her tantrum for hours on end had finally taken its toll. I thought that I was "handling" everything quite well. Christina had received a year of Early Intervention services and she was now transitioning into our county's preschool special education program. She was on a strict gluten/casein free diet. She received speech therapy 2-3 times a week and she had some of the best doctors in the state. I worried about my older children and how having a sibling who required so much of me would affect them, so I enrolled them in SibShops at a local hospital. (SibShops are basically support groups for the siblings of children with special needs). Oh yeah...I had everything covered. Then, on our very first Respitality Weekend in VA beach (provided by Cerebral Palsy of VA), something strange happened while Russell and I were eating dinner. We were away from the children and finally enjoying each other's company again. That's when it happened. I LAUGHED! It was only then that I realized that I had not had a good laugh (or probably even cracked a smile) in months! It was a great feeling, but I was alarmed because it felt so foreign to me.
That night I vowed to keep my head up and to keep laughing. By nature, I am a funny person. I love to laugh and I love to see others happy. The challenges that having a differently-abled child has brought us almost distracted me so much that I'd begun to live my life on auto-pilot. Not anymore! Yes, there are still some really hard days, but I have the blessed assurance that God will always see us through. You can have that same assurance. Don't allow your child's challenges to define you (or your child). Don't allow details about doctor's appointments and therapy sessions to dominate every conversation that you have with others. Learn to take one day at a time and to find at least one thing every day to smile or laugh about.
The Bible says that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. That has been very true for me. Why not give it a try yourself?
Monday, February 1, 2010
Keep Your Dreams Alive!
Wow...has it really been over a week since I've posted? Please accept my most sincere apologies! I've experienced some technical difficulties but I'm back in the game now!
All morning I've been thinking about goals and dreams. We've just begun a new year and I've vowed to reinvent myself...to push myself to achieve things that I never have before. Creating this blog is a part of that process. But what about having dreams and goals for our differently-abled children? It is easy to give up on our dreams for our children when they are born with challenges that we never expected them to have. I mean, who actually expects their child to be born with autism, cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability or any other special challenge? We certainly didn't! Like most people, we expected that we would give birth to a perfectly healthy baby. When Christina was born, and as more and more of her challenges came to light, we found ourselves stumbling around looking for answers. I've often compared that feeling to that of an undefeated heavyweight champion, in the ring with an ametuer whose talent he's grossly underestimated. The champ lets his guard down just a little and "Wham"! His challenger manages to get a punch in below the belt! Knocked from his perch of unshakeable confidence, the champ stumbles around the ring, desperately trying to get his bearings again. "Hadn't the referee seen that punch?" It was not a fair blow. "Why wasn't somebody blowing a whistle or something?" "Why hadn't this contender been disqualified?" So many questions, but no answers...at least not until emotion takes a back seat to his faith and renewed confidence. For whatever reason, his opponent's blow had been allowed and he now had to find a way to survive this match. So, the champ regroups and gets back in the ring. This time, acknowledging his opponent's ability to defeat him and drawing on every ounce of faith, skill, and confidence that he has to make sure that this doesn't happen. In the end, the champ wins the match. Not an easy win by any stretch of the imagination, but a win that was achieved through perserverance, wisdom, and faith.
I am not saying that we may not have to make changes to the dreams and goals that we have for our children. What I am saying is that we must not abandon our responsibility to set goals for them and to have dreams for them. We must find a way to recover from that "below the belt" punch and regroup. After all, how else will they learn to set their own goals and create dreams for themselves if we don't dream for them first?
" And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it". Habakkuk 2:2
All morning I've been thinking about goals and dreams. We've just begun a new year and I've vowed to reinvent myself...to push myself to achieve things that I never have before. Creating this blog is a part of that process. But what about having dreams and goals for our differently-abled children? It is easy to give up on our dreams for our children when they are born with challenges that we never expected them to have. I mean, who actually expects their child to be born with autism, cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability or any other special challenge? We certainly didn't! Like most people, we expected that we would give birth to a perfectly healthy baby. When Christina was born, and as more and more of her challenges came to light, we found ourselves stumbling around looking for answers. I've often compared that feeling to that of an undefeated heavyweight champion, in the ring with an ametuer whose talent he's grossly underestimated. The champ lets his guard down just a little and "Wham"! His challenger manages to get a punch in below the belt! Knocked from his perch of unshakeable confidence, the champ stumbles around the ring, desperately trying to get his bearings again. "Hadn't the referee seen that punch?" It was not a fair blow. "Why wasn't somebody blowing a whistle or something?" "Why hadn't this contender been disqualified?" So many questions, but no answers...at least not until emotion takes a back seat to his faith and renewed confidence. For whatever reason, his opponent's blow had been allowed and he now had to find a way to survive this match. So, the champ regroups and gets back in the ring. This time, acknowledging his opponent's ability to defeat him and drawing on every ounce of faith, skill, and confidence that he has to make sure that this doesn't happen. In the end, the champ wins the match. Not an easy win by any stretch of the imagination, but a win that was achieved through perserverance, wisdom, and faith.
I am not saying that we may not have to make changes to the dreams and goals that we have for our children. What I am saying is that we must not abandon our responsibility to set goals for them and to have dreams for them. We must find a way to recover from that "below the belt" punch and regroup. After all, how else will they learn to set their own goals and create dreams for themselves if we don't dream for them first?
" And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it". Habakkuk 2:2
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