Dave preached a sermon on Sunday.
About a blind man.
And Jesus.
And it became about Ashlyn.
And my heart in caring for a little girl with special needs.
And was still about Jesus.
Dave has a gift in that.
God uses him to dissect texts I've read over hundreds of times
and breathe new life into them.
But it's always about Jesus.
So God can be glorified in her life.
Period.
Why was your son born with autism?
Or your daughter with Down Syndrome?
So God can be glorified.
Why did He give them to YOU?
So God can be glorified in your parenting.
We make it so complicated.
And it's easy to complicate.
We mourn.
We question.
We turn our backs on God.
We blame.
Hear this.
Christians should not live burdened by their child with special needs.
We should live looking for chances for God to be honored and elevated in our situation.
Sure, there are hard days.
Exhausting days.
And it's perfectly acceptable to be exhausted.
But let's also be joyful in our purposeful lives.
He gave us our sweet little girl.
That He may be made known through imperfect ears.
And imperfect lives.
And imperfect, overwhelmed parenting.
That His works might be displayed.
boom. truth, sister. every word truth. thank you for this post today- my friend's son is taking his final hearing test at 9 am today to find out whether he has hearing loss or not and it takes me back to those first days of deafness. God is good in all of it- the muck and the glory.
ReplyDeletebest sermon.
ReplyDeleteseriously.
SO GOOD.
so much truth.
and you are right, it's simple.
thank you for the reminder. and encouragement.
and letting me see some of God's glory by being in Ashlyn's life.
i love her. probably a bit too much.
it's a good thing she likes cats. :)
God gave me this verse a few months after Ella was born.
ReplyDeleteHis love is so perfect in that word. It was exactly what I needed.
Merry Christmas, friend!
boom. Wish I was there to hear that sermon. The simplicity of that is so crazy, we make it so complicated and difficult. I love watching Ashlyn grow and bring glory to Him, she's such a joy!
ReplyDeletepreach it.
ReplyDeletejess, thank you.
xo
*love*
ReplyDeletei'm learning to embrace my own handicaps (there are many). i'm accepting that God allows them for his glory, and that it's not about my comfort or ease, but about Him.
may God continue to show you His glory!
I love that girl and the great God who made her. I love the heart you both have in parenting her for His glory.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful.
Update the Hope sermon page okay?
It's all I want for Christmas
I love every word. So good.
ReplyDeletejess. this is an amazing post. love you.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you know that it spoke to Eddie and me too.
ReplyDelete