Hope

Today I heard... "Your next post will be, There's a Reason."  Immediately, I'm wondering if I ever wrote it down in my journal.  Then I heard...

"No, it's not written down.  But, you do have it written... 

written upon your heart. 

Entitle this post, Hope.  

Now, write your story".  There's a Reason...

For every pain that we must bear,
For every burden, every care,
There's a reason.

For every grief that bows the head,
For every teardrop that is shed,
There's a reason.

For every hurt, every plight,
For every lonely,
pain-racked night,
There's a reason.

If we love and trust God as we
should, all must work out for our good,
Because He has a reason!
(Romans 8:28)

On November 13, 2000, the day before I gave birth to my eighth child, my mother came over and handed me this poem.  She didn't know why, but she knew she needed to.  At the time, I thought, nice poem and threw it on top of my microwave.  

On November 14, 2000, I realized the significance of that poem.  On that day I gave birth to my eighth child, a sweet little girl with something extra.  She had an extra chromosome... she had Down Syndrome.  We had no idea.

I have to say, I did have some idea.  My spirit knew... because during this pregnancy I was drawn to children with Down Syndrome.  I even went as far as to look into certain vitamins and nutrition for these special gifts from God.  

But, as we many times do... I ignored the obvious. 

The moment she was born, Nick commented, "She looks like she has Down Syndrome."  The doctors and nurses were quiet.  Then the adventure began.  There were tears, uncertainty, we were scared, concerned.  Almost every emotion you can imagine, we went through it.  While at the hospital I even asked to speak to a priest.  I asked him... "Is God punishing us?"  "No, he replied.  He's blessing you.  God gives special gifts to special people." 

 Shortly after birth, Jackie struggled to breathe.  She was in the hospital for ten days. While there she had many doctors.  When she was a couple days old, the nurse told us the heart doctor needed to have a meeting with us.  We paced in the waiting room, letting all sorts of imaginings overtake us.  I was wringing my hands and Nick, with his head in his hands commented, "I can handle a child with a disability.  I just can't handle a dead child."  How ironic I thought, how in this day and age many people claim just the opposite! The rate of abortion of these special God-given gifts is astounding!

Jackie is now fifteen years old.  We've had our "ups" and our "downs", what an adventure it has been. Many times God leads us down a path in life that on our own we would not have picked.  But, many a blessings are in disguise.  We have found that our dear daughter, Jaclyn, is beautiful, sweet, entertaining, stubborn and at times down right defiant.   

One of  her many doctors while examining her beautiful and slightly different looking eyes said quietly, "You show 'em Jackie, you show 'em."

 At the time, in my heart I just knew what he spoke would one day come true.  You see, we've been on an adventure that at the beginning we would not have picked. But now, in our journey, we praise God that He allowed this very path, this very curve in the road, this very adventure that we've been so fortunate to not have missed. 

 Dear God, our hope is in You.  You're the one that truly makes all our dreams come true.  You have told me, it is forever in my heart... that there is a reason for everything right from the very start.

Our Hope is in You!

 There is a Reason.