Counting Blessings

Happy Holidays!

With Thanksgiving square in my rearview mirror and all the bliss of Christmas right around the corner, it seems perfect timing to give thanks to God for our many blessings.

I know how easy it can be to focus on the tasks and the strategy in our quest to help our kids improve, quite simply it can be overwhelming. Doctors appointments, supplements, possible medication, therapy, school, diet and tracking behavior is a lot! And that doesn’t include parenting and rigid routines. It is easy to miss the gains and blessings.

It may sound odd to many of you, but in many respects Lindsey’s diagnosis of Autism has changed my life for the better. No, I am not happy she is Autistic nor will I ever settle for her being anything less than 100% of her potential- but her diagnosis has taught me perspective, it has taught me patience and it has taught me how to lean on God. I’ve always been a Christian and had a “society standard” church attendance, mainly Easter and Christmas with a few other services sprinkled in, but shortly after a life changing diagnosis of Autism, I grew up.

I needed to dig deep, really find out what kind of mom I was. Up until Lindsey’s diagnosis parenting had been pretty easy. Now it was all going to change, I needed to learn more and understand medical ideas that were foreign to me. I needed to comprehend biology concepts that could help unlock my daughters mind and I needed to do it yesterday. The information came to me through a stream of experienced moms, in retrospect they were intentionally placed in my life by God at the exact moment I was open to hearing their story.

He showed me paths to follow, and they made a difference. He then made it easy to attend church, having it staffed with incredible women that looked forward to watching Lindsey every Sunday. My daughter was and is a Rockstar at church, everyone knew her and would greet her with smiles and hugs- even on the more difficult days. I was in such awe of her relationship with these ladies that I didn’t want to let anyone down with her missing many Sundays. Therefore, I didn’t miss many either!

Next thing I know 5 years have passed, we attend every Sunday and my relationship with God exploded. It's been a hard road and not every decision has come easy. There are many days that I question what's best, whats next and where to go from here. I know I will search and even struggle from time to time but all I can think is what if I was still living that “cruise control” parenting I did early on? Would I be as informed or engaged? Would I appreciate every conversation and new interest? Would I have been baptized again as an adult? I really don’t know. What I do know is that God works in mysterious ways and my family is stronger, my daughter has improved hand over fist for years and our faith has never been better.

When Lindsey and I say prayers at night, I often say “Lord Jesus, please take Lindsey’s autism, let her have a clear mind and achieve her best”. Lindsey then almost always says “Hey, don’t take from me, that’s my autism!” And with that I smile and recognize just how far we have come.

This blog is just about as personal as I can imagine, but if I truly want to give all of the glory to God, I need to give him the glory for healing her and leading our family back into his arms.

I encourage you all to see the blessings, not only the small gains that should be celebrated for your child’s most recent accomplishment, but also in what blessings you may not notice being at work in your life too!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!