God Uses Whatever It Takes to Grow Our Reliance on Him
God uses whatever it takes to grow our reliance on Him. Acts 9 tells the story of Paul on the road to Damascus where he simultaneously saw Jesus, heard Him speak, and went blind for a couple days.
That’s what it took to set Paul on the path of faith and reliance.
My personal road to Damascus began forty years ago today when I gave birth to a son. Twelve hours later he received a diagnosis and earned an airplane ride to a hospital in another state. That’s what it took to put me on the path to faith and reliance. I could do nothing for our tiny baby except entrust him to God.
I didn’t see God. I didn’t hear Him.
Instead, I found myself on the Damascus road of parenting a medically fragile baby. Sometimes, my husband and I could see one step ahead. Usually, we were traveling blind. We could do nothing except rely upon God to show us the way.
Forty years later, I can confidently say that He did.
My confidence was bolstered today when I was studying the story of Paul on the Damascus road in Acts 9. Paul’s experience on a dusty road close to 2,000 years ago was very different than that of mine as the parent of a child with special needs. However, the people He provided along the way for Paul and for our small family were remarkably similar.
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By Jolene
Jolene Philo is the author of the Different Dream series for parents of kids with special needs. She speaks at parenting and special needs conferences around the country. She’s also the creator and host of the Different Dream website. Sharing Love Abundantly with Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities, which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman, was released in August of 2019 and is available at local bookstores, their bookstore website, and at Amazon. The first book in her cozy mystery series, See Jane Run!, features people with disabilities and will be released in June of 2022.
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