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I have a theory- that God places children with special needs in the laps of the parents that He appoints - because He has given them special heavenly tools to raise them.
Patience, tenderness, kindness, flexibility, and many more. You name it, they've got it.
Within my family, we have children with special needs. Not in my immediate family of four, but within my extended family. It only takes a few minutes with them to see how special these parents are.
Now, I have seen children with special needs with parents that do not do a good job. I don't think it's b/c they don't have what it takes...I think it's b/c they don't use what is given them.
They choose to parent by their own standards, and not laying down who they are and picking up the cross of Jesus and following Him by selflessly serving Him.
The best manual for parenting is the Bible. Period. That's the best manual for LIFE.
And if you don't think so, perhaps you should dig a little further into scripture.
It's there, I promise.
To be a good parent, you must step back and selflessly see and meet the needs of your child before yourself. To be a great parent, you do these things in the guidance of our Heavenly Father. You seek His plans for your children. Not your own.
Which is difficult, especially when your plans are so different than His.
How disappointing it can be when you are holding your baby- thinking, dreaming of their wedding day, what will their profession be, will they make their mark on history?....only to realize later that these dreams of yours may not be in the plans of our Father.
That perhaps this little one may never understand relationships such as marriage.
And you "lower your expectations." But I think when lowering your expectations, you are not really "lowering" anything but your own will and kneeling, bowing and backing away as you realize it's not about you at all. It's about God.
And somehow in the midst of it all, there is glory given to God. There may not be anyone else that sees it, but the glory is given.
Sure, perhaps it's easier for me to write this b/c I don't have a child with special needs of my own. But I see amazing things happening when my family members take on the task of parenting these children with such amazing patience and finesse. And I can't help but to think that God granted them extra patience and extra understanding and extra everything to do what they do, b/c they do it so well.
And so perhaps they will be given a set of wings when they reach heaven, and the rest of us will join as the Throne room bursts in applause.
Well done, good and faithful servant, well done.
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