I’ll never forget the first time my son tried to sign “I love you.” He is only two, but every night my husband and I crossed our arms over our chests like a hug to sign “I love you” to him. Then one night he did it back. Only a parent will ever know how sweet a moment like that can be.
I’ll never forget the first big hug or the first kiss he laid on my lips. The way that only he can show me love will be something I will hold with me always. He can’t tell me “I love you,” because he still doesn’t talk, but the many ways he has chosen to show me love warm my heart and let me know I am doing this parenting thing right.
I think about how easy it is for a child to give their love. They see the world through different eyes and give without expectation of anything in return. So unselfishly and so incredibly powerful. How wonderful and amazing is a love like that!
I think God gave us our children so that we can see this special kind of love through His eyes. He loves us with that same unselfish love that same powerful and unexpected warmth that is so overwhelming. Is it hard for you to see it?
I admit, I have struggled with God’s love through the hard times in my life. How could God allow these things to happen to me? I have thought. Over the past six months since my son’s diagnosis of Autism and SPD I have wondered, Why? How? Every time my son has another medical procedure my heart breaks for him and I think, God is this love?
But you know what? Every single time God shows me some way to prove his love for me. He doesn’t need to do that, but He does. He shows me each day through my beautiful son, through the kindness of my husband and even through the world we live in every day.
The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16. What an amazing kind of love!
This Valentine’s day I hope you remember: God loves you. He did not give you a special needs child to punish you or to teach you a “lesson,” he did it to show you His special love. God loves you more than you can imagine and more than anyone else you know. Embrace it today.
- “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
- “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35-39
Blessings,
Kathryn Sneed