Special needs parenting WILL get better says guest blogger Kimberly Drew. And since she’s going through a rough patch as a parent and still says that, struggling Different Dream readers can trust the reassurance she offers below.

Special Needs Parenting Will Get Better

I can’t quite figure out what I can say at this particular time in our journey raising two children with special needs, so I have decided to go with utter honesty.

I am in a familiar place emotionally and spiritually.
I’ve been here before, and had hoped to never re-visit.

I find that there are days where I don’t want to get out of bed and others where I am championing our daughter’s needs with passion and fervor. At times the simplest idea can take root in my mind and draw me back to a Scripture or a lesson that I have previously learned and fill me with comfort and the motivation to press on. At other times, I feel a dark and empty void hovering in and around my soul. I don’t have the energy to pray, or truthfully to even care, about the deeper things because I’m just trying to get through the day.

There is no formula to the ebb and flow of emotions that come with raising children with special needs. If there were, I would jot down the changes and prepare for them accordingly. I know I’m not the only one who struggles with these feelings of sadness, exhaustion, and doubt. I have talked to too many other parents to think I was the only one who felt these things.

You should know that you are not alone.
I know from past experience that it will get better.

Appointments will calm down, new meds and specialists will feel more like routine than hassle. Milestones will come in their own sweet time and in their own special way. Someone will drop off a meal when it’s needed most. A card will come in the mail to encouragement. The hand of a friend will rest on my shoulder and prayers will be whispered over us, inspiring my faith to move forward. Mom will show up for a surprise visit and do a laundry blitz, or my best friend will drag me out to shop the endcaps at Target. I will open up the Bible and it will come alive in my heart and fill me so full of wonder that it practically bursts out of me.

Special needs parenting will get better for our family and for yours.
But until it does, I will read passages from the Bible like Psalm 143.

My Soul Thirsts for You
A Psalm of David.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.

For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
 for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.

Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
 on level ground!

For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.”

What do you do when you don’t think special needs parenting will get better? Leave your thoughts in the comment box.

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