Our Inspired Journey

I recently received an envelope in the mail from my mom filled with resources she'd been sent from "Joni and Friends" after going on a tour there with her friends the week before. "Joni and Friends" is the ministry of Joni Erickson Tada who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident in high school and since then has developed an international disability center with resources for those with a variety of disabilities. The website is http://www.joniandfriends.org/ if you are interested in learning more about this ministry. Their headquarters happens to be in the town where I grew up and my mom used to, and now will begin volunteering there again soon.

After sharing Cole's story with one of the volunteers there, my mom was sent a list of resources for those who are hard of hearing along with stuffed animals for the boys and small booklets with scripture for those who are considered disabled, showing them how God sees them. Our world sees someone who is disabled as also being disadvantaged, our first instinct is to feel sorry for them as we assume they will have a sub-par life and not be able to enjoy everything life (or this world) has to offer. It was refreshing for me to see all of God's words directed toward the disabled in one place and encouraged by HIS perspective...

Psalms 139:13-16
For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Exodus 4:11-12
The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

What higher honor could any of us receive than to be told by the GOD of all creation that he will help us speak and even teach us what to say with the voice He has given breath. When a baby is born disabled or someone gets into an accident that disables their body in someway, our first reaction is to be saddened by their differences because of the earthly limitations they will now endure in their life. It is very normal for our human minds to go through a process of grieving for them.

The world says blessings come in the form of more money, bigger house, nicer car, cuter clothes and makeup, adoration from others, etc. but the LORD says...

The Beatitudes from the Message (paraphrase of Matthew 5:3-12)
You're BLESSED when...
...you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
...you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
...you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
...you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
...you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
...you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
...you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
...your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

It seems kind of backwards, doesn't it. Living in the world we do, we will easily find ourselves lost if we don't firmly plant ourselves our the TRUTH God says in His Word. I have never had God's truth become more alive to me than it has in the past few months as it feels more and more earthly blessings have been stripped away. With little money it is impossible to resort to things or paid experiences (dinner out, movies, etc.) to bring you a pleasure on a regular basis. The LORD has taught me what it means to have JOY come from Him, from the bright eyes of my boys, the laughter they bring, being together as a family and trusting God to provide each month for gas, food and heat. I never thought about these things before as luxuries but being where we are, the Lord is reminding me of those without these basic necessities every time I turn the heat on to combat the 32 degree chill outside. Again I say, thank-you Jesus.

They say it is normal to go through the stages of grief when finding out your child has a disability. I know it did. When I first thought Cole may be hard of hearing, I ignored the thought...it probably wasn't true I thought to myself. When finding out he was indeed deaf I cried the whole day I found out, feeling like his identity had somehow been stripped from him...I thought of all the things he couldn't experience because his ears couldn't hear. I started thinking it was somehow my fault...I wracked my brain for things that happened during his pregnancy and labor that could've attributed to his deafness and even talked to my midwife about it to finally hear that I was clear of blame. Then came a level of acceptance that through no fault of mine but rather through the blessing of God, I was given a little boy who for the rest of his life will be looked upon as special. All our children are a gift from God and made uniquely...God's Word says that clearly...but in this world some are labeled "normal" and others "different" and through the differences created in Cole he will, for the rest of his life, be used by God to display His work so that God may be glorified. I cannot think of a higher call or honor.

John 9:1-3
As he went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, " said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

What a true blessing...I now live overwhelmed by the beautiful design of God for my son and for our family. 133 million babies are born each year...4,000 of them deaf, and the Lord has entrusted me with one for a son, and for Ryder a brother...what an incredible honor. Again, I fall to my knees with hands held high and say through tears...Thank-You Jesus...