Creating Space for Special Siblings
Among those affected by the challenges associated with disability are the siblings.
It’s fair to say that many special-needs siblings are bringing a myriad of spoken and unspoken needs to their parents and their churches. And this presents us with unique opportunities to connect with siblings in ways that ripple positively into their families, our faith communities, and the world.
Today’s blog shines some light on the sibling perspective, and offers examples of how to open up some great communication with special siblings.
First Fruits and Surprises
We have a very special guest post for you today!
Jon and Sylvia Flint have an inspiring and challenging story for us all. They have been faithful prayer partners, cheerleaders, and monthly donors supporting Walk Right In Ministries for many years.
Their generous partnership may have started out as simple compassion but it has grown for surprising reasons.
We’re thankful they shared their story, and hope you will take a couple of minutes to read it. God’s ways are ever-increasingly powerful and meaningful, when we step out in faith to follow His promptings.
PS — Remember, REACH NIGHT 2022 is this Friday at 7 pm Central! If you haven’t already RSVP’d for the Zoom link, write to us at [email protected] today and we’ll email everything you need to know.
Finding Open Doors and Hearts
Carly and I headed over to the shoe repair shop the other day because I was hoping to get a favorite leather purse fixed. I knew our local cobbler would be perfect for the job. He would have all the necessary tools, along with a willing and flexible spirit.
We have a history with him that goes back to the early 2000s when Carly needed custom wedges on the soles of her shoes.
We were very sad to find his shop vacant. And, friends, when you really need your shoe guy, nobody else will do.
On today’s blog, hear more about our beloved cobbler and learn why his little shop got me thinking about the caregiving families we serve at Walk Right In Ministries.
Life Is Enriched by Relying on the Almighty Refiner
Caregiving has forever changed me. In some beautiful, cherished ways and in some ways I’m not at all proud of too.
I believe we honor God and experience richer lives when we let life refine us — shape us for the better. The scary things is, the Almighty Refiner might choose to use a furnace of very high heat. The fires of life can make us terribly uncomfortable. Our human nature will be to resist the fire.
This week’s blog considers the opportunities we find in the fires of disability and caregiving.
Spring Challenges Remind Us of Good News
Clocks springing forward is just one seasonal change that can strike weariness or frustration in the family impacted by disability. Since establishing well-functioning routines is both essential and hard for us, the time change can create additional stress and stretch.
As my shoulders drooped and I sighed another prayer this weekend, God impressed reminders of hope on me. Friends, we don’t face these things without His presence, power, and daily mercies.
So, today’s post aims to bring a prayer and encouragement to us all. Jump over to the blog and find some good news for springtime!
Good Grief!
Is there such thing as “good” grief?
For caregivers in families where someone has a disability, complex health condition or mental health concerns, grief can find plenty of triggers. Parenting my own daughter Carly, who has Angelman Syndrome, brings a joy and richness to our lives that can’t be explained. But it also wrings us out emotionally.
Each person in my family has experienced grief in their own ways and at their own times. We try to make room for each other to work through those feelings. But that is a regular challenge.
Our aim is to live according to this biblical principle: We’re called to create safe spaces for processing individual and family grief.
In today’s blog, we’re exploring this principle and how to find the “holy moments” when grief may be a regular visitor in our homes and hearts.
Disability Take Us Deeper
My daughter Carly used to struggle with strabismus, an eye focusing and teaming issue. She needed therapies to stimulate her macular vision and prevent her from fixating in her peripheral field.
As I watched her wearing those fancy glasses one day, I recognized a metaphor about faith and perspective. Carly’s glasses gave me new perspective about our family’s struggles.
On today’s blog, learn how God meets us at the end of our wits. Whether disability or something else has turned your world upside down, read on to discover how you can have new vision.
Tips for Churches to Engage with Special Needs Families
With a couple of exceptions, it has been more than two years since my family has been to church, in person. My husband and I are still uncertain about how or when we will get our daughter back to church. We aren’t even sure when we ourselves will go back.
The factors influencing our decisions about returning to church services range from logistical issues to behavioral concerns involved with our daughter’s readjustment process. If I’m honest, we are also struggling with the transition emotionally. We’re experiencing disappointments and longings about how church was done with us before the pandemic and during the pandemic. Now we’re wondering about the prospects for what life and ministry will be like for us after the pandemic.
God says special needs families and churches matter to each other. Today’s blog explores three things churches can do to help restore community with families impacted by disability.
We Bolster Each Other’s Faith
For many of us, growing in faith is hard. It comes more easily by doing life alongside others who want to grow too.
On today’s blog, I’m sharing a story that may inspire, encourage or stretch you.
It was about this time of year in 2009, and I was sitting in a cafe waiting to meet a woman I did not know. She had contacted me after reading my family’s disability story in the newspaper. I was a little nervous. I was also feeling humbled realizing that someone might have been moved enough by something of our story to actually ask for a personal meeting. I felt very self-conscious, even a little afraid.
Head on over to the blog and find out what discoveries that woman and I made. I hope to encourage you to lean into the voice God has given you too.
What’s With All the Dandelions?
One day a couple of years ago, I was given a very personal perspective about the dandelion. I had spent part of a morning sharing my heart about disability ministry with the staff of a church.
They listened. I explained some things. They asked a couple of questions. I answered. I sensed a degree of sympathy in the room but people were pretty quiet. I walked out wondering whether my message brought any real clarity to the issues or had any empowering influence at all.
Had I overwhelmed them? Had my opportunity to foster a vision in others been overshadowed by my personal passions as the parent of a child with special needs?
Perhaps you’ve wondered these kinds of things too.
Check out today’s blog and be reassured. Your situation may often feel invisible, unimportant, or unappreciated by others but it does not go missed by God. He breathes new life out of every place of weakness, brokenness, disappointment, dead dream, and lost hope.
