It’s not always so easy to count your blessings

Lest you think that life is just a bundle of roses here I thought I would share a little from the deepest parts of my heart. We are really blessed and our blessings come from the living God, the creator of the universe, and the Savior of my soul. The trials he allows into our lives are to help us to grow, some things are easier to be thankful in the midst of than others.

The year of 2010 I diligently prayed for 7 people with cancer. 6 of them died. 3 mothers were left with children to care for. One couple lost a mother on one side, a father on the other side, and a year and a half prior had lost the other mother. The trials seem to be so great for some, it just doesn’t seem fair. But as I watched the heartaches and the battles fought and lost (the battle to cancer was lost but they each won the victory in Jesus) each of them stayed true to God and He was glorified in their lives. Their testimonies touched the lives of many.

As I was touched by their lives, read their blogs and caring bridge posts, the thought would come to me “if I ever face such a trial, I hope I can glorify God in my response in the way that these brethren have.” I heard God gently speak to me that the true test isn’t in the great trials of life but in the little ones. How do I respond to the day to day irritations? The BIG things quickly draw us to our knees, even non-believers often call on God in such a life-crisis. But what about the little things? (I don’t want to sound like I am belittling the big things here that I observed others go through. God forbid! I clearly saw God at work and families being faithful to Him – I just want to show how God was speaking to me, we shouldn’t wait for the big things to glorify Him).

O.K. back to my heart. It is easy for me to count my blessings when it comes to material things, I’m not really a materialistic person. We have the mindset that it’s all gonna burn someday (II Peter 3:10-12), and we need to just do the best we can to take care of what God has blessed us with. God allows things to happen to mold our character, how are we going to respond? It’s all God’s anyway, it’s His money He has allowed us to use, His home He has allowed us to live in, etc. etc. What have we that God has not allowed us to have? He could very easily decide to take it all away and cause us to live in poverty; would I glorify God then?

Following is the greatest trial God has allowed in my life, I have never counted this situation as a blessing from God, my eyes overflow with tears even now as I try to share it with you. Perhaps you could pray for me that I can truly rejoice in the good that comes from it.

I am blessed with a son that is different from most.

I am blessed with a son that requires a special diet to keep him emotionally stable.

I am blessed that I have seen how this diet really works and when I get overwhelmed and think we can just handle it without being so strict he has an emotional melt down and God reminds me that it is worth the effort it takes to help him be free of anxiety.

I am blessed to have a Christian nutritionist that became a nutritionist because of a difficult trial she faced with her own little girl. http://www.karenhurd.com/poisonous_rug.html

Here’s a fresh example of emotional meltdown. Over the last two weeks I have relaxed the diet even allowing a couple desserts. Monday night he had a meltdown but I thought perhaps I caused it by not handling a situation well – see *below for another blessing. Tonight he had a major emotional meltdown, I’m confident it wasn’t because of me this time. He screamed and cried for probably an hour, I don’t know though because Chad finally put him in the van and just took him for a ride.

*I am blessed with a son that doesn’t respond to guidance/discipline like the other children

It’s really hard to make a child obstain from all the goodies that all the other children get to have (we don't allow the goodies at home but he's around them often at church and other social gatherings). It’s hard to follow the diet away from home, always needing to plan ahead. An occasional meal without all the requirements is usually o.k. if we stay away from the “No” list. But if we are going to be gone for more than a couple meals I have to plan ahead and take food along which is really hard to make him eat when others don’t have to (I eat what he eats to support him, but he still feels left out).

I realize you may be interested in what this special diet is.

First the required list -

• a palm size serving of protein at every meal
• 1/3 cup legumes (like kidney beans, black beans, lentils, etc) at every meal – we were doing this 6 times a day for awhile
• 3 (1/3 cup) servings of vegetables a day – usually try for one at each meal
• a required amount of water per day – can’t remember how much off the top of my head
• 1 1/2 cup nuts / seeds or 3/4 cup peanut butter a day

Then the no list -

• no sugar
• no fruit
• no scented anything, lotions, soaps, candles, perfumes, etc.
• no dairy
• can’t remember the others off the top of my head, these are the biggest issues

This makes for extra effort (stress) to make the meals enjoyable, or a very boring diet because it takes time to be creative and make good meals that include beans. Thankfully we like beans with Western dressing as the sauce but this gets old after awhile.

I am blessed with a son that doesn’t learn like the others

I am blessed with a son that takes you VERY literally – causes me to learn how to communicate better

I am blessed with a son who has kept me from being proud.

I am blessed with a son whose love language is physical touch (sweet hugs) and time (lots of it) – I like this, but it’s harder for me to meet his need in his way because I was never a boy and don’t know what to do with all those cars, trucks, and tractors in front of me! Let’s go play with our hair!

I am blessed with a son that as much as any other child is fearfully and wonderfully made. (I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14)

I am blessed with a son that God has a purpose for and I have the privilege of helping him to become the person God wants him to be.

I am blessed to not know of anyone in my area that has similar challenges.

I am blessed to have received encouragement from others with children that don’t fit inside the box.

I can count all these as blessings because though I don’t know the answers to all the issues we face, and my local friends can’t advise me from experience, I know *personally the God who created my son WITH a purpose and He has used bringing up children to bring me to my knees and near to Him. I would much rather go through my trials that I might learn to fast and pray and draw near to God than that everything would run smoothly and I would never have the awesome privilege to see God’s hand in our lives!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2Co 12:9)

Yes, even my weakness is turned into blessings! Thank You Lord! Pray for me that when I become discouraged I can recognize these struggles as blessings. AND not wait till I'm overwhelmed to go to God in fervent prayer!

* When I say I know God personally I don’t mean that I know about Him, I know what the Bible says, I said a prayer, etc.

* When I say I know God personally I mean, I am in communion with Him, I talk to Him and He talks back. I will try to post some answers to prayer in future posts to encourage others of you that don’t have this communion with God to draw near to Him.

David Michael Carillo This is a man that grew up with ADHD and now encourages parents and educators around the world. I have an MP3 CD with a couple of his talks if you could use the encouragement. Click on his name to go the his web-site to learn more about him and his ministry. This video is him singing a song he wrote "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made."

I thought I should add that some of the lyrics don't necessarily apply to my son, but it is still an encouraging song. A reminder that even though he doesn't fit in with the norm, he is still "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!"