All was quiet in the office that day—all but the questions and quandaries that had plagued their minds over the past year. The doctor’s confirmed diagnosis resolved one set of questions, raised another set of questions, and removed their hope for a better outcome. Nothing was unusual in the months that followed—pain persisted, friendships faded, […]
Read MoreCategory Archives: Special Needs
The Holy Spirit’s Power and Presence in Times of Crisis
Are you going through a severe test? Maybe you have lost your appetite or you haven’t slept well for weeks or months. Fear and panic have replaced quietness and peace. You experience loneliness, discouragement, and isolation, complicated by unending physical or emotional pain. You’ve prayed and asked others to pray as well. And still, there […]
Read MoreThe Gift of Grace
No one expected him to succeed. He was made fun of in school because of a horrible stuttering problem. His older brother and sister were brilliant; most often he felt like a shadow child rather than a sibling. Though extremely talented, the young shadow boy struggled to speak even one sentence clearly, causing him to […]
Read MoreSecond Homes
There is a place I sometimes used to call my second home: the waiting room. I’ll never forget the hours I spent with my special-needs son in waiting rooms—rooms with foam-filled sofas, tattered magazines, crying children, and tired-looking people who were staring at smudged, blandly painted walls. If there were windows, I watched the outside […]
Read MoreOne Step at a Time
Don Bennett was on top of the world. He was wealthy; he owned a ranch, an eight-bedroom waterfront home on Mercer Island, and a ski chalet. Life was good, until everything changed. A boating accident resulted in Don losing his right leg; and while he was in the hospital, his business fell to pieces. After […]
Read MoreBack to School
It’s back-to-school time! I’m guessing some parents (including me) are delighted, and most kids are disappointed. Kids tend to ask lots of questions before school begins: “Will I be riding the bus?” “Who is my teacher?” “Are the kids nice?” “Do I wear regular clothes or a uniform?” But kids don’t ask questions just about […]
Read MoreAn Advocate
When I read this, I thought of you and all of us who care for loved ones in need. An Advocate by Charles R. Swindoll Job is portrayed as “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil” (Job 1:1) . . . and yet the bottom drops out of his world. He loses everything […]
Read MoreReframing Life: Beauty from Ashes
My world was rocked for the first time when I was four years old. We had recently moved to Southern California. Early morning sunlight had just begun to peek through the window in the room my sister and I shared upstairs when our beds began to shake. The matching white pom-pom trim on our bedcovers […]
Read MorePainful Days
Are you in physical pain today? Someone reading this is in pain. Perhaps it’s you. Or maybe you know someone in pain. Pain rarely makes sense and often continues without relief. Throughout the ages, others who have endured pain have turned their attention from the temporary pain to things eternal by meditating on passages of […]
Read MoreDaily Tests
Mrs. Moses’s cookbook surely had a special section on “A Thousand-and-One Ways to Fix Manna.” Unless I miss my guess, she had tried them all . . . many times. What potatoes are to Ireland, apples are to Somerset, cod is to Grimsby, and porridge is to Scotland, manna was to the wandering Hebrews for […]
Read More