Stephanie, my wife, called to share a potentially scary story about Fayth, our daughter born with Down syndrome.
Special Needs Child Like To Scare
“Hey, you won’t believe what Fayth just did.” Not the first line I typically like to hear from Stephanie.
“Do I need to step out of the room? Is she okay…”
“Oh yeah, she’s fine. But it could have been bad.” She interjected quickly.
“What did she do?” I asked. Fayth was only 2 years old at the time.
“I was doing laundry and Fayth was playing in the living room. I was only in the laundry room for maybe 2 minutes.” My anxiety was building. Did she go outside? Did she eat something bad? Did she choke on some toy? The questions kept running in my mind.
Steph continued, “I went back into the living room and she was gone. I couldn’t find her anywhere. I opened the door, went outside and nothing. I was looking in all her hiding places, nothing. I love how she doesn’t respond to her name in these situations.
“Finally after looking at the stairs, I realized the baby gate was not up. I ran upstairs and looked all around, nothing. Fayth was gone. Then I heard her chattering, but I couldn’t find her.
“Do you know where she was?” She asked me.
“I have no clue. In the closet? Oh, the bath tube? Wait, when did she learn how to climb stairs?”
“I know, but it gets better.”
“Really? It hasn’t been real good so far.” I smirked.
“Babe, she was sitting on the top step of the 3rd floor.”
“WHAT? Are you kidding me? She could have gotten really hurt.” I regrettably scolded.
“I know, but she is fine. It’s pretty funny if you think about it. She might be advancing faster than we think.” I wasn’t finding anything funny about the call.
Why I Was So Scared
I got off the phone irritated, frustrated, and scared of what could have happened. We lived in a house built in 1908 and the stairs would not pass inspection if the house was built today. While we lived at that house, I had fallen down the stairs 2 times, one with Fayth in my arms. Steph had fallen 3 times. The stairs should have had caution tape wrapped around it. It was extremely steep and dangerous.
Special Needs Child Teaching Faith?
After the dust had settled and my emotions had calmed, I stepped back and learned a little bit more about Fayth or should I say faith.
Fayth’s name was not given to her by accident nor the spelling. These are the lessons of Fay(i)th. Sometimes it is hard to separate the two.
How often is faith leading us into unchartered territories? Fayth likes to walk into areas of life where human reasoning is screaming danger, wrong, and impossible. But faith keeps walking. Faith is fearless of earthly dangers and struggles. Faith doesn’t look back into the past, but strives for what is ahead. It keeps climbing the steps of maturity.
How many of us could learn a lesson from Fayth? Don’t worry about what you can’t do, focus on what God can do through you. Fay(i)th was fearless in her conquering of the stairs. The stairs was the war and the steps were the battles. If the world is in control of our faith, we may never climb the battles to wage war against the impossible tasks.
What would happen if you released your faith to accomplish what God wants you to do? What would happen if you shut the mouth of the world, doubt, insecurity, and anxiety? What could possibly happen if you let your Fay(i)th climb the stairs of impossibility?
Be warned, there could be some scary climbs. However, be prepared to be surprised at the impossibilities made possible.
Matthew 17:20 “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
Image courtesy of nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Jared Buckley
Latest posts by Jared Buckley (see all)
- What Is The Real Battle? - March 5, 2015
- Happy ReNew Year - January 1, 2015
- Touched By An Angel - October 2, 2014