The Works of God

It has been an encouraging week with videos about marriage, a father’s joy, and a mother’s resolve all being posted in the past few days.

And then I had this stark reminder: there is a war in our culture against people with disabilities.

For some reason, my news reader on Wednesday brought up an article that is almost a year old.  The title reveals exactly what it is about: I saw my son’s bleak future and knew I had to abort him.  Note: this article is very descriptive about what happened to her, including the abortion process. Please use care.

I don’t fault the mother.  She had, it appears, literally no support to spare the life of her son.  Her sister, who is a nurse, advised her to abort. Her brother, who parents a child with CP, said it could be unbearable for everyone if he lived.  The health care professionals focused on what was ‘wrong’ with this boy.  She was entirely alone with her fears and prejudices and assumptions.

We must tell our stories, pointing people to God as the source of hope.  Of course it is hard, and God is good.  The pressures and heartache are incredible, and God will supply everything we need.

We simply must let the world know these children are infinitely valuable, all of them.  We must tell people that the little ones were created to live for eternity, even if some of them will live hard lives here.

We must.

There are scores of women who have children of all ages who cannot speak an intelligible word because of their cognitive disabilities.  Or their children, like my son, have some language, but those children can never make a spontaneous call of deep affections for their mother.

There will be no handwritten cards, telephone calls or gifts from those children to their mothers today.

Yet, most of those children have mothers who pour their lives into them, sometimes for decades beyond what they anticipated when that little life first starting growing in their bodies.

For all of you moms in that circumstance, know that this proverb is still for you, just not yet!

Her children rise up and call her blessed.  Proverbs 31:28

Why do I believe this?

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.  Revelation 21:1-7

Those mothers who cling to Jesus for daily strength and as their future hope have a glorious eternity waiting for them.

Someday, I believe my son will tell me things almost too wonderful for me to comprehend about what he experienced in this present age.  And I expect one of the things he will talk about is his tender, eternal regard for the woman who cared for him without a thought about what she would receive from him in return.  On that day, he will rise and call his mother blessed!