What Does God Say About Discipleship?Sample

Day 2

God’s Work

1 Corinthians 10:11 

These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Before our oldest son was even in preschool, we noticed that he was having difficulty processing basic information. We weren’t exactly sure what was normal and what wasn’t since he was our first. We had him tested when he was four. He was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD.  

Like any mom at this point, I was going through some extreme emotions and struggles. I cried a lot as I tried to process what this meant for him and what we could do to help. I asked all the questions in my mind and heart. Would he have this forever? Would medication help, and should we try it? How on earth will we navigate this?  

Soon, he began seeing a therapist who would change our lives. She prompted us to switch schools, a decision God quickly revealed to us was the right decision. After his first day, his teacher greeted us by saying, “Let me tell you what Rig did today. He read a book from memory to the class!” 

Let me tell you, I burst into tears. I had gone from hearing every week what Rig couldn’t do to hearing what Rig could do. There is nothing like having someone else see in your child the beauty that you see.  

In the midst of those first few weeks as I was feeling quite alone in our new experience of having a child with special needs, I received an email from a mom whom God had prompted to reach out to me even though she had no clue what I was going through. She told me in this letter all about the struggles her daughter was having in school, and that she just didn’t know what to do. 

As I sat there reading her letter, I was crying my eyes out (a theme of those first few weeks). I hated that she was experiencing this but at the same time I was thankful because I knew I wasn’t alone, and neither was she. God had provided someone to whom I could talk to and share these experiences with.  

I quickly realized that God was giving me a platform with moms who had these precious kids with special needs. This work of God in our life brought moms out of the woodwork who were experiencing some of the same challenges we were. Many were afraid to even take the first step. 

In 1 Corinthians 10:11, Paul was reminding the church in Corinth of Israel’s past. He explained that their history, painful as it often was, was written down to help them in the present. They were to learn from the past by looking at what happened to those who had come before them. 

That is how our life works today. Things in our past should not only help us in the present but we should be willing to share those things to help others. Our experiences are examples of lessons learned if we let them be.