Hope Through The Struggles

"Hope Through The Struggles" is the title I would give my life story.  And the girl pictured above is the inspiration.  Because of her, I 'see' different than most, 'hear' different than most, and 'feel' different than most.  I no longer look at life through my eyes, but through hers.

This week, one of my children was punished because of that little girl pictured above.  This isn't the first time something like this has happened, but it still hurts just as bad.  On most days it seems the typical world won't slow down for the special families.  It won't change it's routine or it's rules.  In an effort to provide a 'forum of fairness', the typical world often doesn't bend.  And sometimes, the unbending is backed up by scripture and thrown into faces to express God's way.  The orderly way.  The Sovereign way.  The right way.  Such was our experience this week.

Through wiping tears and trying to pick up pieces from a broken heart, I noted how our little Hope never changed.  Unable to understand what all of the excitement was about, she remained the same happy go lucky soul as always.  She never had an inkling that her disability and all of her needs is what kept her big sister from being able to meet the long list of rules that had been required of her.

I also noticed how Hope's needs didn't change either.  She still needed the constant care and supervision as always.  Unchanging.  Unflinching.  Unrelenting.  No matter the situation, Hope is always 100% herself.  Just Hope.  Her disability was the reason behind her big sister being kicked off the team, but she marched on without a clue. 

Then I looked around at the rest of us.  We were all a mess.  Stuck in the unfairness of a world still cold and calloused toward the disabled and their families.  So desperate for those called the "typicals" to stop and err on the side of mercy....to bend and show grace....to simply love the imperfect (sometimes unable to meet a formal schedule) kind of family we have become because of that little girl pictured above.  And oh, how I wanted to scream and pound the ground because of the sheer hurt and pain that had been brought upon my innocent daughter because of something so completely out of her control.  And in my search for justice, I found the Savior.

Just when I was at my worst, God met me and briefly opened my heart to allow me to see:

"It is one thing to follow God's way of service if you are regarded as a hero.....But are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket---to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted---not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister?" (Oswald Chambers)

Philippians 2:17: 'If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.'  

And that was His lesson.

Hope is not even a mere drop in the bucket to the world.  In fact, to most "typicals" that little girl pictured above is the most insignificant of the insignificant.  Yet, she still is the same person every single day.  She never sways back and forth depending on the winds of the "typical" world.  She is always....simply Hope.    

And we are to be like her.  Poured out.  Totally insignificant.  The filth of this world.  A doormat.  Expecting nothing.   

Then, and only then, will we begin to understand the message of Jesus and the significance of the cross.