Paradigm shift: “A time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely” (The Cambridge English Dictionary).
I don’t know about you, but God often shifts my paradigm of disability when I least expect it.
It was a Sunday morning. I’d been laid flat with a flu-like virus for four days. I woke up that morning determined to get up and go to church with my husband and son.
Mistake.
By the time I’d finished my shower, dressed, fixed my hair, and put on make-up, I was exhausted.
Climbing into the car felt like a chore. It takes us seven minutes to drive to church. Two minutes into the drive my chest was so tight I could barely breathe. Pressure kept building. Four minutes into the drive it felt as if a sumo wrestler had invaded the car and chose to sit on top of me.
We drove directly to the ER of our little local hospital, just three minutes away.
Because Joel, who has autism, was with us for the weekend, I told Wally to drop me at the ER and go on to church. Why? Because autism and emergency rooms are not an ideal combination! Once I was checked in, they drove off to church. The last thing I saw as they drove away was Joel’s worried face peering out of the car window.
A couple of hours later my my husband and son returned. I was in a small cubicle, a curtain serving as a door. Hooked up to an IV, heart leads, and a blood pressure cuff, I was beginning to feel somewhat better. They’d already drawn blood and taken an EKG. Now it was time to wait. And wait. And wait. Wally and Joel sat down in the two chairs next to the bed.
Read the entire post at Key Ministry for Families.
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