For those who have ever prayed for a family like ours and wondered what you could do for them ---
I received a beautiful card from a facebook friend who had been reading about our difficult times with our son's seizures. In the card that person shared that they knew we most likely had needs not being met and asked how could they help.
First of all - don't anyone ever think it's not worth the time and effort to send someone a card or handwritten note. I don't know about anyone else - but for me it is such a blessing to open a card or letter. Pure, simple, joy. In my mailbox I get nothing but junk ads and junk mail and bills. On my desk is paperwork -- forms to fill out to get nothing in return, printed out research abstracts for my leisurely reading, EOB's to sort through and when need be, appeal letters to begin writing.
Oh, the simple joy of a simple card addressed to me, not "occupant", not "guardian of", to open once in a while to break the monotony.
In the card was a very heartfelt sharing of how much that person cares for us and our struggles.
Then there it was, that question.....
The very genuine question asking how they could possibly help us.
Unfortunately at times I'm a very impulsive person. I knew what my answer would be the minute I read the question. But I tried to wait for a while. Put the question down and walk away... See if my answer would change after thought and reflection. Seek the Lord's grace to overtake my lack of gracefulness.
I'm not sure what that says about my Christian walk, but after seeking heavenly grace I found the same human graceless answer a week later as I had the moment I read the question. I guess why the truth is so absent in our world today, is because it's not glamorous. It's not the popular answer. It's often more blunt than graceful.
My answer is that prayer is always appreciated. Receiving a card that someone is praying for you, even better.
Many families like mine are on such restricted diets, that cooking a meal for them isn't really that helpful. There are too many things we can't have.
We love to do our own yard work, repair work, etc. It's sometimes our only diversion in our life with autism -- to get to do something normal people do. When we can.
What we really need, and I think I speak for many, is respite. So often the people asking us how they can help, are those who belong to a church. Perhaps even our own church. They have a way to help.
They have a building that's mostly empty on a Saturday. They have members of all ages and gifts and abilities. They have the perfect answer to that question of "Do you have a need not being met? Do you need help? How can we help?"
They have a congregation of servants who when the Lord asks "Whom shall I send?"
Should all be answering "Here we are, send us!"
Not if it's convenient.
Not if we're not scared to.
Not if we don't know how.
Not if we're afraid we'll be sued.
But rather "if there's a will, we'll find a way." "If God calls, he will equip."
For families like mine, the help we need isn't in the time of crisis, it's in those times of reprieve. For our son when he's well, to have a place to go for a few hours just for fun. To have an energetic youth peer play catch with him. Pull him in a wagon. Chase him on the playground.
For some less mobile children or youth, the senior ladies and gentlemen can perhaps read Bible stories to them for a few hours.
Deacons can stand guard at doors for sly escapee's. Women's Ministry can greet the Mom's and take their name and commit to praying for that family. The Men's Ministry can be buddies to some big-ol' boys!
The possibilities of how a church can and should answer that question are limitless.
If it weren't for fear from those who God calls to be fearless.
All I've heard lately is fear. Things like, "We can't continue offering our perfectly suited ministry building that God provided for "outside" groups to use for respite because of liability." "If we were to be sued, we could lose everything."
That might be true, but if the church that preaches faith to everyone else can't save a morsel for itself, then we're all in trouble.
If you were walking down the street and saw a child hit by a car, you would not just walk on by. You would go to that person, do what you could, and then call 911.
If you were in the grocery store and someone dropped in front of you with a heart attack, you wouldn't not help because if they died you might be sued. No, you would hopefully attempt CPR and call 911 and trust in the Good Samaritan law.
Parents of children with autism and other disabilities are asking no more than that.
That you do what you can and trust God to do what you can't.
We are supposed to belong to a church that preaches faith, that there must be purpose in your child having autism, a disability, seizures. That even though it may be hard, even though your finances will be wiped out, God will provide.
But what I've heard lately from those same churches, is that they can't open their doors to respite programs because they might get sued and lose everything.
Can churches built by God really lose everything?
Is God's faith different for people than it is for churches?
If God can provide for the church, don't you think it can protect it?
And even if something were to happen, could it maybe be part of God's purpose or plan? Like parents are told to believe regarding having a child with a disability?
Yes, those things are hard. It takes courage. It takes money. It takes collaboration. It takes trust.
It is difficult to step out of that boat, to cross that river.
But maybe, just maybe in doing that - you can see just what a blessing it is to families like mine whose lives are nothing but hard, nothing but difficult. Yet we have no choice but to plunge head first in the Jordan. Jump out of that boat with no life vest.
Or liability insurance.
I've also heard things like, "Well not many who we serve attend our church..." How many villages from the mission trips you sent your members on have come back to attend your church? How many people on your own membership list attend your church regularly?
What if the parents dropping their child off for respite on a Saturday never ever occupy a pew on Sunday? Is it not worth it that the child, youth, or adult who has a disability and who is made fun of by their peers, bullied on the bus, abused in the classroom -- has a place to go for a few hours once a month to learn about Jesus through the volunteer who read to them? The servant who was the kind, loving, accepting hands and feet of Jesus in caring for them?
Are we serving because there is a need we are equipped to meet, or serving so we can get?
God calls us to plant. Not harvest.
We are to sow. God's Kingdom, not the church, is to reap.
Don't ask how you can serve someone, if you're not prepared to serve in the way they need. We've been abandoned by too many people and it's just too crushing to be abandoned by those whose very faith says to serve, trust. Not flee, fear.
Parents of children, youth, and adults who have autism for the most part don't need help in crisis. There's not much you can do during those times anyway. What they need is opportunity when all is well. A Saturday afternoon respite to just enjoy their house or go out to dinner or see a movie. Their child or children with disabilities who are nothing but stuck in their house, don't need a babysitter to come over, they need a place to go play and be around people who have fresh wind, fresh fire, -- perhaps little experience, but great faith. By doing that, you are serving in multiple ways. Respite for the parents, time for marriage for the husband/wife, a change of scenery and recreation opportunity for the child, youth, or adult with the disability.
What we need is for you to be Good Samaritans who serve with cell phones. If something happens, call 911.
I guess if that's simply too big for God to make happen through your church, there are local disability organizations who serve families who can always use your donation.
Most of them non-Christian based.
Think about that.
