Today is Apraxia Awareness Day. Normally, I would have rallied people to wear blue; however the day almost slipped by unnoticed. It’s not because Apraxia is no longer a part of our story; it always will be. We’ve learned to live with Apraxia. Now we’re trying to figure out what it looks like to thrive as a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) Family.
It’s only fitting that we spent today at speech therapy. On our way there, I asked Jackson if he wanted to post a video talking about Apraxia. This is something we’ve done together in the past, especially once he found his voice.
I don’t want to tell strangers about my hardness, he said.
Hmmm.
His response surprised me; but then again it didn’t.
How often do we keep the hard stuff to ourselves? How often do we stop talking to God when things get hard? How often do we think we have to carry our burdens by ourselves?
As we continued our drive, my thoughts immediately shifted to an eternal perspective.
God wants to use our hardest moments for His glory.
I shared this with Jackson, but respected his decision not to post a video about his Apraxia.
Here’s what God has taught me (and continues to teach me) about life’s challenges…
The hard things in life are supposed to lead us into deeper conversations with God.
The hard things in life are meant to transform us into the image of Christ.
We’ve endured a lot of hard over the past 12 years and I’ve always found comfort in the story of the blind man in John 9.
The disciples wanted to know why the man was born blind. Was it because of his own sin or his parents’?
Jesus answered, It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
The hard things in our lives point to the power of God.
God is working in the midst of Apraxia, Autism and PDA. He is working in the midst of my own anxiety and fear of the future as I raise a child with complex needs. He’s working in the midst of whatever hard thing you find yourself in.
Your hard stuff has an eternal purpose.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)
The good news for those of us who put our hope in Jesus, is that God’s plan is bigger than the biggest obstacle we face.
We can find hope in the hard.