It was a moment I had waited 9 years for. My son gave me a hug and I said, “I love you!”
Instead of the usual silence, he responded, for the first time ever, with a singsong, “I love you, too!’
As a special needs parent, the experience of waiting for small things, like hearing these beautiful words, can feel like crossing a desert. You climb the first dune, with each step fighting for purchase as the sand spills and the dune begins to disintegrate under you. You are thirsty, tired, and reach the top only to see another massive dune. You climb that dune only to see another; repeat for what seems like eternity.
When you are in it, you don’t know if you are going to eventually reach water. The one thing you have control over is what you think as you climb the dune. Are you going to climb envisioning the next dune or expecting water, provision?
My son’s affectionate response completely took me by surprise, which made me realize that I had become complacent. I feel like making my peace with never reaching certain goals is a step in the direction of limiting my child.
And I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to expect big things.
Last night my son and I read “The Story of Jesus Healing” and the verse at the end was Mark 5:36, “Jesus said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just believe.'” One of the stories was of Jairus’s faith as he walked with Jesus toward his home where his daughter had died. He never for a moment lost faith that the situation was beyond Jesus’s power and ability to rectify.
It is our faith that makes us well. That is what Jesus tells the woman who touched his cloak on his way to Jairus’s house.
Now, you can have faith and still not get precisely what you ask for in prayer.
For me, faith makes me well because no matter what happens, it is my faith that puts my soul at rest and gives me the perseverance to keep climbing, even when it takes years to see God’s response.
Lord, I pray for everyone who is facing an uphill climb today, that they would have faith in You and walk with hope in their hearts, expecting big things, expecting good things. Lord, Your presence alone is enough to sustain us through the most difficult trials. Thank You for Your faithfulness to us, even when our faith wavers. Amen.
Shout out to Laura and her website The Adapted Word. I have been printing and laminating these books to match the Bible story of the week at church. My son loves them and we have started reading them nightly. They have been invaluable in giving him a simple, engaging entry into learning Bible stories along with his peers.
You can find them at: www.theadaptedword.com or on the Teachers Pay Teachers website.
