What in this realm can satisfy our universal thirst for health and wholeness? We simply cannot find it. Not amid volcanoes and cancers, blizzards and bereavements, cold-blooded cruelty and violent indifference. Here, we find rejection that leads to addiction, and shame that leads to suicide. Here, we find a hundred million hungry orphans who have…
Have you come to that point with your child’s diagnosis or challenges where you kind of forget that they are a big deal, that you still have the possibility of regression, or that the issues might be something you could be praying about? I was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago. Our church…
In July I participated in an interview through the Not Alone Parents site on taking vacations as a special needs family. During that interview I spoke to one vacation idea that most people, at least in my experience, cringe at when it’s brought up—camping. I cringed as well when my wife first brought it up…
The end of August means the beginning of school, a time of year I greeted with equal measures of excitement and dread as a teacher. So my original idea for this post was to shed some light on what teachers think and feel when a new school year rolls around. However, the Holy Spirit had something…
School will soon begin around the country. During my 25 years as a teacher, the parents who used some or all of these 9 tips helped their kids with special needs start the school year on a positive note. Tip #1: Stick to the School Supply List Purchase exactly what’s on the school supply list…
When my husband and I were in seminary, we had a little joke about being able to tell the missionaries from the rest of us. Missionaries were the ones who wore flip flops in January. They spent more time outside in the grass than in the library. If you went to their houses, you would…
Humans have an innate need to control their environment. We control our environments in all different kinds of ways, sometimes even in ways we don’t think about in terms of “control.” Even if we’re not a self-proclaimed “control-freak,” we still exert control over things in our lives in order to keep things at a manageable…
For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted my petition made to him. I Samuel 1:27 I remember the first time I laid eyes on my husband. It was at King College in Bristol, Tennessee. We were in the same math class my Sophomore year. He was joking with everyone. He was asking about me with…
When people tell me how good I am or how strong I am, it’s hard to take it as a compliment. I am a mother of a child with disabilities. I have no choice. Quite honestly, if I did, I would not choose this. So perhaps that makes me more of a coward than the brave…
The Lord was with Joseph. The phrase caught my attention as I read Genesis 39 during my morning devotions. That’s pretty bold, I thought. Joseph’s been sold to slave traders by his brothers, sold again to Potiphar, and the narrator of the story has the gall to say “the Lord was with Joseph.” How can that be? …