Tags
Developmental delay, expressive language delay, God's love, Language delay, miracles, motherhood, parenthood, Parenting, prayer, special education, speech pathology, speech therapy
I think we’re bad at noticing miracles. I think anything that doesn’t happen with the speed of snapping our fingers is easier to write off and overlook.
The best real life example of this from my life is my children’s speech progress. Lauren and Ethan have both come so far that it’s easier to look back and see the answered prayers and miracle their progress has been; it’s been harder to see it in the midst of it.
In the midst of the challenges, it’s been harder than I can accurately describe. It’s been hard to be patient, it’s been hard to hold on to hope when things seem like they aren’t progressing, and it’s been hard to believe that they would.
It’s defeating for something as simple as your child to not be able to tell you something hurts or they don’t feel well to not be possible. Those things hurt in a deep place, and in those moments we want that over now. We don’t want the hurt. We want our miracle, and we want it now.
Why? It’s like the microwave. That’s what we’re used to. Instant gratification. Less work to get what we want. What if God was teaching all of us something in the midst of these challenges?
What if He was teaching us to pray and wait? What if He was teaching us to trust in Him and His timing? What if He was making us better, more patient and loving parents? What if He was building in us foundations of unconditional love? What if He was teaching us what it means to never give up on someone?
Those are all the things I really believe I’ve had to learn to support and love Lauren and Ethan both through these difficult seasons. We aren’t finished working on their speech yet, but I look at my miracles in progress and feel nothing but deep love and adoration for who they are becoming.
I’m thankful for moments when Ethan can tell me he wants a snack or needs to potty differently than most people probably are. Lauren being able to have long conversations like the one she had with Rob before the Daddy Daughter Dance this weekend fill us up in a way that is breathtaking!
I actually hate hearing people complain about their kids talking too much or about being annoyed by their persistent talking. If all that was there was silence, they would feel so differently. Each word would feel like the biggest win! I’ve learned to celebrate the seemingly small things with all the gusto of someone who just won the Super Bowl. That’s what those moments feel like to me. They are the biggest wins ever.
If you’re sitting in a hard season with your kids or your job or your marriage, I would challenge you to press in and look at these from this place.
I also pray with our kids and every night I tell them I can’t wait to hear what they have to say. As they say more and that dream becomes more realized, I’m thankful. I’m not thankful because it’s happening quickly. I’m thankful because it’s happening at all, and in the midst of it, I don’t want to miss seeing it unfold. Slow down. Watch it happen right in front of you.
It will change you. The miracles that happen in you through it all will shape you if you let them. Let them. Let them make you better. Let them make you appreciate more than you do right now. Let them happen in their time, and don’t miss a single second of being grateful.
