Encouragement for Parents of Differently-Wired Children

On this day of rest, I’m sharing a few thoughts (quotes, book passages, and Bible verses) that I hope will bring encouragement for parents of differently wired children. Parenting a child with unique needs brings unique challenges. But there is hope and refreshment for you this day.

“Why do you and I postpone God’s gift of rest? Why do we procrastinate? I often fail to enjoy the gift of God’s rest because I’m not willing to open my hands to receive it. In his book Sabbath, Wayne Muller reminds us that ‘Sabbath requires surrender. If we only stop when we are finished with all our work, we will never stop–because our work is never completely done… If we refuse to rest until we are finished, we will never rest until we die. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished.’ Sabbath can be a weekly reminder that our work is not sovereign, but God is. Our allegiance is first to God, not our to-do list or appointment calendar. Today is the day to enter into a weekly rhythm of ceasing my work one day in seven. Here I more deeply remember that God’s work always precedes mine.”

from An Unhurried Life: Following Jesus’ Rhythms of Work and Rest by Alan Fadling

“Life is always a process, and it is the process that God is concerned with more than productivity. He knows perfectibility is not possible and that all our labors are feeble against the brokenness of the world. When we overly emphasize productivity (a typically American thing to do), we often pervert the process: instead of faith, we substitute work; instead of depth, we substitute speed; instead of love, we substitute money; instead of prayer, we substitute busyness.”

The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits by Richard A. Swenson, M.D.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”

James 1:2-8 (NIV)

“Out of every difficulty Omnipotence can bring us, only let us in childlike confidence cast our burden upon the Lord.”
– C. H. Spurgeon

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