I am the parent of a special needs child. By “Special Needs” I am referring to the fact that her mental capacity and functioning are not considered “normal” by society. Megan was born with autism which is a developmental delay disorder in which the wiring and circuitry of her brain has been shifted from what is considered “normal” by our society to that which is considered “abnormal”. Although her mental functioning is not at the appropriate level in regards to her age, I refuse to believe that my child has anything “wrong” with her. No, my child is not broken and neither is your child if your child has autism, Fragile X Syndrome, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, or any other developmental delay disorder, learning disorder, or behavioral disorder. Our children are NOT broken. The society in which we all live is what is broken. I’ll even go as far as to say that our churches are broken. I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.
My daughter, Megan, is THE most loving and caring individual that I have ever met. She loves everyone and wants to be friends with everyone. However, far too many times her heart has been broken by rejection from those who identify her as being “different”. Because she is “different” and so loving and friendly, many people do not know how to react towards her. They are facing an unknown facet in their lives. Sadly, the unknown initiates fear and fear stimulates adrenaline. Adrenaline in unknown circumstances is a dangerous and heart breaking thing. Out of fear and the unknown arises teasing and laughing at someone’s misfortune. The worst thing about this factual concept is that it not only affects the children of our society but adults as well. How many times have I heard an adult say, “Well don’t I feel like the retard.” or jokingly “I must have ridden the short bus to school.”
How many times have I seen children and parents actually stare at special needs individuals and their family members and then FLEE as if they were afraid that they might “catch” something? Far too many times have I seen and heard children ridicule the misfortune of others in the parent's presence and their parents did NOTHING to correct them? This is the type of injustice that special needs individuals and their families endure on a day in and day out basis.
But guess what? God is watching and He is taking notes.
Did I just get your attention? Yes, God is watching and He IS taking notes.
The book of Psalms 127:3 tells us that our children are gifts from God.
Psalms 139:13-16 tells us that our children are woven by God’s own hand in the mother’s womb and that our children’s ordained days are written in God’s book before the first day has come to pass.
Our special needs children are truly God’s Special Angels. They have provisions by God for their salvation even before conception. They are closer to God than any of us “normal” people can hope to be. Society needs to know this. Parents, you need to understand this. Your special needs children are not mistakes or accidents. God does not make mistakes. You have been given a gift of a specially wrapped package in your child. God has a greater purpose for you and your life. The church needs to be awakened in revival and discipleship to reach out for the harvest of millions of these special needs individuals and their families. Not only is society unaware, not only do most parents not understand, but sadly most churches are not even aware. Even if the church is aware, most do not have a clue as to what they can do or what they should do to rectify the situation.
Please visit God’s Special Angels Ministries at
www.godsspecialangels.com to see how a church can grow and develop as a disciple of impact for God’s Kingdom by reaching out to the Special needs population of our country and their respective families.
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A Call To Church Leadership
