Finding peace when your heart is breaking is difficult. Many of us have lost loved ones or are struggling just day to day and sometimes the holiday stressors can feel so heavy and we are more sensitive because of all the busyness. It doesn't feel that long ago when I sat and watched my son gasp for breath in the hospital, he was barely one year-old. He had asthma and when it came boy it was … [Read more...]
New Priorities for Parents in the New School Year
With the new school year picking up speed, it’s easy for me to forget the lessons hard learned over the summer. My gracious Father has been very committed to teaching me about living in true peace, and I want to be intentional about wrestling with the moments that send peace running to the hills. Many of those moments are connected to my children and their various challenges. After an episode like … [Read more...]
Fuel for the Journey
Parenting may be one of the most rewarding jobs on earth, but it is also one of the most difficult. I am the mother of three sons. My youngest, Joel (32), has autism along with an anxiety disorder and severe kyphosis of the spine. Parenting a child with a disability is especially demanding, requiring surpluses of energy, patience and perseverance beyond, at times, what seems humanly possible. As … [Read more...]
Don’t Ever, Ever Think You Walk Alone
I remember my father once telling me, “It’s dangerous to live.” What he meant was that life is full of risks and dangers and that if we are constantly worried about those risks and dangers, then we’re not really living. I’ve often recounted this quote whenever a therapist overplayed the safety card with Ben – you know, when they say it wouldn’t be safe to transfer Ben into his walker or … [Read more...]
Do You Know Who You Are?
One of the most important things we have to do on this journey as a special needs parent is to be able to hear the voice of God when there are so many voices distracting us from His. Before we can recognize God’s voice we have to know who we are in Christ. A blockade from hearing the voice of God is not knowing your identity. It’s so easy as a special needs parent to lose our identity when our … [Read more...]
Learn to Walk the Steps That Jesus Has Traced
My natural tendency is to push through any obstacle that comes my way. To analyse it to death. Develop a plan and then do what needs to be done. Or at least what I think needs to be done. If I can figure out the next steps, then I feel confident. Over the last few months, I was balancing a lot: An intense, full-time IT project management job, where the hours are anything but … [Read more...]