This one is longer than normal friends.  I had the privilege of speaking to a group of special needs parents in September and thought I would share that information below.  Blessings!

Connie

Special Strength for Special Needs:

September 13th at The Inspired Women’s Conference (Laurens SC)

Special needs have a way of isolating you from the rest of the world. Everything is more challenging. You have to think a different way. It effects your ability to go places and be around others and the more alone you feel the harder the journey. So being together with others who are on the same journey is a blessing.

As I was prepping for this I asked myself, and the Lord, what do I say to a group like this? There’s a million things we could talk about. Dealing with special needs is not like a job you can leave at the end of the day. It affects everything you do. Your other kids, your money, your social life, your job, your marriage, your relationships with family, your faith. So with just a few minutes how do I tackle that?

So I believe the Lord gave me this passage of Scripture to share with you so that your hearts might be encouraged and you find some strength for the road in front of you.

Listen to this.

17One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.^d So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

20So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.

21“How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

23“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

24The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Let’s stop here for a minute. This story is of a desperate father looking for help for his child. Can you relate? I can so relate. My daughter is going through a really rough time right now. I was told this week in a meeting that it was advisable to put a plan in action to start moving toward residential care with Cadence. She’s 11. I was devastated.

You’ve been devastated too. Not only by the diagnosis your child lives with but how that affects everything in your world. By the hard choices you have to make. Maybe you feel like this man…..in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep, even though you are exhausted, or when you’re in the shower and it’s quiet you cry out to God like this man HAVE MERCY ON US AND HELP US….IF YOU CAN.

Jesus replies to this man……….“What do you mean IF I can?”

And the man replies…….”Anything is possible if a person believes….I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

I feel like him. One second I’m strong…..I BELIEVE! You are with us Lord. You hold our destiny. But in the next I’m weak…….Help me overcome my unbelief. I don’t know how to live this life.

Jesus says anything is possible.

What “anything” are you facing that seems impossible today? I used to look at this and say God can make Cadence better. That impossible thing that God can make possible – I’m going to believe God for that. For her healing. He can make her better.

I do believe He can make her better……………If He wants to.

But hear me now……God will do what brings the most Glory to Himself. And sometimes that is not a miraculous, instantaneous healing of the one you love. Sometimes it’s sustaining YOU for a lifetime. It is the testimony of God’s faithfulness to you and your faithfulness and response to Him in the midst of this trial. If believing God and loving our kids was what it took to make them better, we wouldn’t be here, because all our kids would be well.

But we have kids with great need and the impossible thing we deal with is living our lives. I mean, if one more person says to me, “God must have known she needed a mom like you….y’all are so special” you’re going to read about me in the papers. “Preacher’s wife Connie Post goes Postal”

Seriously, we’re not special are we? We are ordinary people called to do an extraordinary task that is TOO much.

2 Cor 12:9 – God says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Our lives sometimes feel impossible. We are so weak. That is when God’s power can rest on us. That’s when it is obvious to the world watching us. And they do watch us.

What impossible thing are you facing today…………….Jesus says, anything is possible for those who believe?

• Maybe it’s keeping your marriage together
• Maybe it’s not going bankrupt or losing your home
• Maybe it’s trying to balance it all
• Maybe you’re crunched between an aging parent and a special kid
• Maybe your other kids are rebelling
• Maybe you’re in a fight with the school system
• Your husband needs a job
• Your insurance is changing…..effecting the level of care for your kid
• Your heart is broken…..or worse…….it’s hardened

Jesus says, “anything is possible for those who believe”.  Lord, we believe, help us overcome our unbelief.

This passages goes on to tell us that Jesus healed this boy and made him well. Look at 2 more verses.

28Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”

29Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.^g”

So the disciples ask – why couldn’t we do this?   Why couldn’t we help? Ever ask yourself that? Why can’t I make this better? Why can’t I fix this?

We are great fixers aren’t we? That’s what we do all day long. Fix the situation, change the environment, put out the fires and manage the meltdowns, take care of the medical issues.

We want to fix things. But like the disciples we often try and try and see little result. We are exhausted with trying.

How does Jesus respond to them. “This can only be done by prayer.”

Prayer – that is the source of your power and strength. Prayer isn’t about getting what you want from God. It’s about connecting to God, and as you do that He strengthens you for the days ahead.

Today, despite the devastating meeting this week, I’m ok.  We’re all ok.  That comes from God. I’m not strong enough to climb out of that hole by myself. Good friends prayed me out of that hole. And I have hope today. I have confidence and peace. Looking at the circumstances I shouldn’t. But I do. And that was born on the wings of prayer.

Prayer is the miracle you need to live your impossible life.  Your circumstances may not change, but God will change you and give you all that you need to live this life He has called you to.