Something that I care about and seem to struggle with is well.... church and the lack of what seems to be Christians who don't "get it" when it comes to orphans and special needs children. For me it is the very breath of air that I breath each day... I have shared my heart and soul about the needs of the orphans and sometimes it seems like it just falls on deaf ears... There are so many orphans in the world and it really would not take much for Christians to help many of them if people just would open their hearts to a child. Even if you do not want to adopt yourself there are other ways to help: give to another family who is adopting, give to aid orphanages,encourage families who are adopting, celebrate an adoption the same way births are celebrated, for that matter celebrate all "births" of children into families no matter if it is the first or 5th..., life should be sacred and given the same expression of joy no matter if the child is a bio. or an adopted or from the USA or another country.....or is "normal" or has a special needs.....A church should be the place that leads people to orphans thru an orphan ministry and thru a special needs ministry.....
But instead I find often adoption is not the same as giving birth bio..... and if a special needs child is adopted or even birthed bio. the family often struggles with being in church when they have a different child....What motivated me to write this blog was another blog mom and friend who is not able to attend church because her son is just not able to sit and behave like most children and so they do not attend church....they are Christians but the fellowship of other believers is not there for them when they need it most.....
I can so relate to this as we have adopted so many children with special needs and at diff. times they have not been able to attend their regular class or worship because of their behavior or medical needs... Many times when we our children have had a surgery ( we have done 66 surgeries in 7 yrs with the new kids) Paul and I are there by ourselves at the hospital... even Luke's 17 hr leg surgery or his open heart surgery it was only Paul and I in the waiting area.... Why?..we think because we have done it so many times "they" don't bother to care enough to come or call ...It seems almost like hardly anyone would care once again about our adopted child by the behavior of these Christians in the churches we have attended.In the churches we have been in, if we did not have some connections to some strong believers whom we can call on if we need to it would feel even more lonely that it can feel as a family who is raising several special needs children.
We can not take Andrew or Gracie to church right now... we have but he is not always quiet and she gets sensory overload... actually she can go and stay with one of us now...Andrew can only thru the music part... if he does come we usually walk out when the sermon begins and walk around with him.... sometimes this has been just as ministering to me to be with him or often I will get the chance to share with someone else out in the halls of our church... neither child is able to go to a regular class.....Some churches will not allow a child to sit in a Sunday school class with the parent for any length of time and most do not offer any offerings to the special children who are in the families of people who attend.....this is such a shame to me.... Why even the regular classes, youth and services struggle for workers...
For us we alternate with two teens or Paul and I will stay by ourselves and watch them... so that some Sundays Paul and I can attend together... or we all will stay home and have Home Church...that actually right now is my first choice. We worship , read the Bible and share our hearts with each other and pray. In our last Sunday am adult class we were talking about what the temple or church was like in Jesus's day... a messianic Jewish man in the class was sharing about how it is the responsiblity of the father to teach his children his faith and about Jesus. He said that temple was for worship not teaching of children and families... that was done in the home. I grasped that idea and turned to Paul and said, " I wish I was Jewish." What I long for is a church that we can go to on Sunday am that is all about worship, people sharing what the Lord is doing in their lives and prayer... no sermons ! Sermons can be done as a teaching aspect at a diff. time but I never feel worship during the sermon... in almost all churches I have been in.... I am deeply longing for just worship... and you know what I believe my special needs children will do well in that church.... because they love music and to worship... Andrew even has raised his arms and hands during our special time of singing and praise around the campfire... it is natural and so life giving to worship the Lord.... instead of the emphasis being on a sermon or teaching... we can do that at another time... but Sunday am should be all about worshiping the Lord.....
Sorry for rambling but this has been on my heart for awhile.....I plan on researching the early church in the Bible... but my heart sings for joy and I am so encouraged when I hear someone share about something the Lord is doing in their life and so desire to be in a church that lets it's people share and be encouraged and praise the Lord thru song and music making instead of the often dry and lifeless presentations of another man's interpretation of the Bible. I am 53 yrs old and do not want to spend another Sunday unless I can praise and worship thru song, dance and the sharing of other lives . I ache for my blog friend... and wish we lived closer so that we could invite her to our "Home" church to celebrate all the Lord has done and is doing in each of our family's lives..... Amen!
