Start the New Year Remembering These Things
At Walk Right In Ministries, we are thankful for caregivers! And we stand on God’s promises with you. (In fact, we are CLINGING to them.)
Let’s start the year together clinging to these nine points of encouragement coming straight from the heart of God.
Service Without Fanfare
Today is our final installment in a series of Christmas season reflections on Jesus’ earthly family. We pray the series has brought encouragement and direction for caregiving families.
This week we’re pausing to look closely at the life and experience of Joseph. He lived his whole life knowing things about Jesus nobody else would ever know. As the dad of an atypical child, might he have felt lonely?
I know my husband has frequently felt loneliness since Carly was born. We both have. Even when we have been surrounded by people who love us, we still experience isolation.
Few people at work, at church, in social circles, and even in extended family will understand the complexity of my husband’s life.
Joseph faithfully served and protected his family without fanfare. This is true of so many fathers in our generation raising children with disabilities. It is most certainly true of my dear husband, Larry.
I hope you will take a couple of minutes to read the full blog today. And I ask you to consider sharing it too, along with your own word of encouragement, to a special needs dad you know who needs to feel seen and recognized for his vital role in his complex family. Whether you are one of those dads, or you know one, may God give your words and gestures a life-giving power — particularly as we head into the holidays.
Merry Merry Christmas, friends and readers!
Wondrous Waiting
During the Christmas season we’re looking to some members of Jesus’ earthly family for encouragement and direction in our caregiving families.
In today’s post, we see Mary go visit Elizabeth right after learning she would be the mother of Jesus.
These women were like “walking partners” in unique parenting circumstances. Both had confidence that God is faithful — yet each had to wait in seeing the timing and ways of God brought to wonderful completion.
Purposed Growth
During the Christmas season we’re looking to some members of Jesus’ earthly family for encouragement and direction in our caregiving families.
In today’s post, we’re focusing on Jesus’ brother James. He was sometimes protective, and sometimes embarrassed by Jesus. Although he eventually became a faith leader in the early church, James was not always an accepting and loving sibling.
How can we make space for God to grow us up in faith and love?
How can we make room for others to experience their own growing up process too?
Extraordinary Assignments
During the Christmas season we’re looking to some members of Jesus’ earthly family for encouragement and direction in our caregiving families.
In today’s post, we’re focusing on Mary. She faced an extraordinary assignment with trust and praise.
How can we make space for God to call us toward important assignments and encourage us in them too?
Thanking Those Who Pave the Way in Special Needs Parenting
“Tis the season for giving thanks,” as they say.
Alas, for many families living with disability, the holiday season can be a hard time to muster gratitude. My husband, Larry, and I admit struggling over the years with our attitudes from Thanksgiving through New Years. Disability complicates our rest and family fun. For us, learning to celebrate and appreciate well is taking practice.
We are thankful for people who have gone ahead of us, teaching us how to hold godly perspectives and values over personal comforts — and be able to do that with true hearts of thanks.
In today’s Thanksgiving week reflection, I want to introduce you to one of those families who gently, yet rather unknowingly, nurtured our younger parenting hearts toward gratitude and Christ-centered focus through disability.
I am so thankful for Peggy, Joe, and Keith! I hope you are spurred on by their lifetime story of care giving and care coordinating too.
WRIM Welcomes New Friend & Executive Director
As co-founders of WRIM, Larry and I have the privilege of introducing Misty Harper-Anderson to you by way of a short video and this blog interview we’re sharing today.
Here’s a sneak peek at our conversation with Misty:
“Some of my earliest memories are with my cousin, Ross, who is eight years younger than me. He was born with Angelman’s Syndrome. During my teen years, I lived with my aunt and uncle for two summers and spent part of my time with them caring for Ross.
As I get to know the people and heart behind Walk Right In Ministries, I grow in my excitement about being part of how God is calling us to serve families who are touched by disability.”
We think you will quickly see why the entire Board and Ministry Team are so pleased and excited to share the WRIM mission, community, and work with Misty.
Please check out today’s full post. Then help us welcome Misty. You can reach her directly and introduce yourself at [email protected].
Misty is also eager to meet WRIM’s friends and partners. Join us for a Virtual Reception on Wednesday, October 25th from 7 PM to 7:30 PM CENTRAL and enjoy some fellowship together! Write [email protected] to request the Zoom link.
Readiness Check for a Satisfying Summer
I’m back in the blogging saddle, at least to get our summer kicked off. It seemed worth taking a breath with everyone to consider what it might take to have a satisfying summer.
The adjustment to a new season can be rough, whether you have school-aged children or not. We all tend to come into summer with a unique set of struggles, hopes, and expectations. Often we don’t even realize they are there under the surface.
Yet if we slow down for a moment while the summer is still young to consider how we actually define a satisfying summer, we are more likely to actually give it a good “satisfaction rating” when September comes around.
I hope you’ll check out the blog today. It’s my quick take on how to get ready and really enjoy the season.
Gratefully connected,
Lisa
More Than A Detour
When your child is born with weighty health or developmental issues, or after a diagnosis is announced, the road of your life immediately heads an entirely different direction than you expected. My own daughter Carly’s diagnosis with Angelman Syndrome finally came when she was two and a half years old. There were early signs of developmental delays and health issues. But we thought the “detour” would eventually bring as back in line with the roadmap we initially had in mind for our young family of five.
Today’s navigational apps and Google maps give us a heads-up when detours are coming up. Jesus gave warnings too. One example: “In this world you will have trouble…” (John 16:33).
Most people experience a “detour” or two in life, no matter what the specific circumstances are.
On today’s blog, Lisa takes a closer — and very encouraging — look at the unlikely journeys of caregivers in families with extra needs.
Who Defends Vulnerable Lives?
Within just the last 60 days, the Walk Right In Ministries community has been involved with three families facing decisions about lifesaving or life-sustaining medical treatment. They have experienced certain biases and sometimes pressures from medical professionals caring for their loved ones.
There are no simple — and often no perfect — answers. But the aim of these families is to honor the value of all life and make decisions that align with God’s view of their circumstances.
Carly and her friends in medically or developmentally complex circumstances need reliable values along with extended families, churches and communities who will support and advocate for them in a world that is moving toward moral collapse.
Please take about four minutes to read this week’s blog. It’s such an important one. Friends, pray about your own role in defending life as God would move you too.
Thank you!
