Celebrating the Gifts of the Special Needs ParentSample

Day 3 – Resilience as You Bounce Back

Hope is believing you'll find the handicap-friendly Caroline Cart at Whole Foods. Hope is trusting that your doctor will be on time at the appointment. Hope is laying your head down on the pillow each night and imagining easy sleep will visit you and all the others in your household. 

Resilience, on the other hand, is getting the groceries anyway when all the carts have been taken—and it's raining. It is waiting out the long appointment time and resisting the urge to be passive-aggressive or aggressive-aggressive when your name finally gets called. It is getting up in the morning and pouring yourself double coffees (one for now and one to go) after another sleepless night. Resilience is the thing that happens after the storm, after what you hoped for just didn’t pan out.

There's a graduated scale for every part of life. Work, love, looks, talent—they’re all a competition if you let them be. But your kid, your special kid, has set you apart. Yes, you will have unmet expectations for yourself and for your child. But God has cut the ties that bind you to the weight of those expectations. You can go off the grid without fear of failure because failure will happen and disappointment will happen, but it's not something that will sink you. Because it’s temporary and because you have a history and a future with God, you can keep walking, one foot in front of the other, towards a brighter and bigger picture.

Go bravely into your future with your child without looking back and let the fullness of God’s promises fill you with hope.