We’d had a few really hard weeks.
Crazy after-school meltdowns from the ADHD medication.
More sad faces than smiley faces in his school folder.
Doctors appointments to try and figure out his ADHD medicine.
Aggression.
Lots and lots of tears (from both of us).
Starting a new therapy with little hope it would help.
Putting our house on the market to move to a better school district.
Honestly, there were a few days during that rough patch when I thought anyone else could do the job of being his mama better than me.
But as we drove home from a really great PCIT session, something dawned on me.
The tears came fast and furious.
And God in His goodness, pressed these words upon my heart.
You’re doing the hard work. You feel defeated, but you keep showing up.
Those words were like a balm to my weary soul.
They were like kryptonite to keep going.
We are doing hard stuff.
We could easily give up.
We could send Jackson to school and let the teachers deal with it, never worrying whether or not there’s a smiley face in his folder.
We could stay in our house and not move to a better school district.
We don’t have to do PCIT every week.
We don’t have to apply for grants so he can attend an Apraxia camp this summer.
But we do it.
We do the hard stuff.
Even when we feel like giving up.
I don’t write any of this for praise or accolades.
I don’t deserve a single one.
I am one of many special needs parents doing really hard things.
Parents who keep fighting, who go the extra mile and never give up.
We don’t do this for praise, but out of obedience to God.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
Special needs parenting is a process.
It’s a journey that comes with a promise.
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
Or as The Message puts it: There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Keep doing the hard stuff.
There’s a purpose and a promise waiting at the end.