Should We Pray for Healing?

Have you ever heard someone say something like, "The Lord doesn't heal people like you read about in the Bible?"

I do....all the time.

So, should we even bother praying for healing? 

I introduce myself to people I meet, share a bit about our special needs life, and there is always a doubter. At times I watch people wince, or gain a defiant pose, simply because I say that God DOES heal miraculously, even today.  

One only needs to surf the Internet to find this truth.  There are many miraculous stories on social media, even of special needs children.

In our family alone...

We, personally, have had real healings.

*A baby boy who couldn't eat or feed himself is now 10 and can put it away like the rest of them.

*An overactive teenage boy had a broken foot which healed completely on its own, then the Lord healed his collar bone.

*Our sons were able to get off all their medications with a God-driven diet change.

*I was healed from a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

*Colds and viruses that evaporate with a proclamation of faith in Jesus.

Honestly, this is nothing compared to some others.

There are other people who have had much more healing than us.

Xrays where tumors that existed, have disappeared.

Cancers that once were, are no longer.

Illnesses that disappeared into nothingness.

But, we were healed.

Sometimes the Lord heals through practical methods.  Sometimes it is through the miraculously unexplained. Sometimes it is through modern medicine. Sometimes He does it through nutrition. Sometimes He places His angels over us or around us in protection.

It doesn't matter how God does it.  He is the author of all healing.

So, should we pray for healing?

I will tell you this.

When Heaven does meet the earth.

God's Kingdom comes,

His will be done,

Love comes down

In a special way.

The Lord restores.

What He creates.

Pray in your hearts to the One who DOES heal, and listen.

In His grip~Kim


Originally published on 5/30/2014

Submit Yourself to God, and The Devil Will Flee From You and Your Family

The devil is attacking the family in our culture.

It has been going on for years.

He tears at the fabric of those families who already struggle in a society that already has too much. Many families today, special needs families, included, struggle with intact equally-yoked marriages, but also, marriages of unequal yoking, single parenting, abuse, and addiction, as well as general conflict in marriage.

The hopeful news for our children is that I ran across an article the other day listing that out of 72% of those still married are married to their first spouse, meaning, the couple married and stayed married. 

Further, 28% of the remainder had spouses who died.  

What a beautiful thing that is, given that 50% of all marriages end up in divorce in the United States!

50% do end up in divorce in the U.S.

While it seems as if to the families who remain together, the rest of us need to repent of something. This usually is not the case.

It is a dangerous belief filled with hate and judgment against those who typically are the victims of adultery and abuse.

Frequently, those who are the adulterers and/or abusers put us all in the dust for insisting on Godliness and morality. 

Divorce does not just "happen" because people are unrepentant. It occurs for a reason. 

God is the One who is mighty to save.

While we can speak words of truth to evil and unrepentant people, we cannot make them receive it.

The families they leave behind know the salvation of God in the most physical of ways. 

While we may not end up with a traditional family that most of us want, we remain under the provision of God's protection.

Each of us must choose God first in our families, and the devil will flee. If the evil one refuses to change, he will leave and stay away. 

No matter what problems we have in the daily workings of our families, the Lord is our Deliverer.

Submit yourselves to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:7

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.   1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

In His grip~Kim

Originally published on 5/24/2014

Are You SOLD OUT! For God

I heard this last week for the first time...I tried to get tickets to a concert for the Newsboys at our church, for my special needs son.  

The woman on the phone told me the tickets were Sold Out.  I really wasn't sure he could tolerate that much noise anyway (LOL), but my son is Sold Out for the Newsboys, so I tried.

Then, I woke up really thinking about the phrase, "Sold Out!"

Later that day I came across an article on CharismaNews' website, written by Billy Graham, 4 Ways Christians Should Respond to the Spirit of the World this morning.  In his typical Billy Graham style, he listed Biblical references as to how we should not conform to this world, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually.  

His point was that obviously most of his readers were Christians, but that we needed to completely give our lives over to Christ.

You know, "Sold out!"

I think God was trying to tell me something, don't you?

Just when I think I am praying enough

I think God is asking me:

Do you spend time in prayer before we make most of our decisions?

Do you tithe as much as you can to those in need?

Is your life a mission?

Are you walking in the light of the Holy Spirit?

Do you circle yourself by praying for friends?

Are you Sold Out, passionate, and on fire for God?

We all lose our way sometimes.

We stumble.  We forget to tithe.  We seek God's advice sometimes.  Or, we choose to spend our time and resources on something other than furthering the Kingdom of God.  

We don't give money to that homeless person we saw under the bridge. You know, we don't listen to the One who is calling us.

We are human, selfish, and imperfect.

In short, we need God, don't we? 

HE reminds us that we need Him to change and become more like HE wants us to be. 

What we forget is that He is there guiding and re-directing us every step. He knows we get confused by the world's viewpoints and afraid when we cannot see the right way. 

Are we listening to God?

We truly cannot become like God, and honestly, He never asks us to become that. But, what we can do is say, "Your way, Lord." 

Really, His ways are better and higher than anything we could even have thought we could achieve or become. 

Do we say, "Yes, Lord" and make the choice the Father is calling us to make?   The Lord is willing to receive our hearts, He never left.  But His arms are full of mercy and grace.

When we really get what Jesus did on that cross for us, when we really understand that without His love, we are doomed, we find freedom.  Choose life, no matter where you are called.

I just want to be on fire for God, living out my life passionately for Him, Sold Out, don't you?  

In His Grip~

Kim 

Originally published on May 22, 2014

Should We Get Mad When We Advocate For Our Special Needs Kids?

You have told this doctor a million times that your child needs this treatment or this medication.  They list off their elaborate lists of medical diagnoses and reasons why brushing you off.  

Then, the worst happens, your child manifests the very thing you begged this doctor for.  They act as if you are still overreacting, even with the evidence right in front of them.

Do you:

A) Calmly re-state what you have been trying to get across for months or years.

B) Pick up your tent in the middle of said crisis and find another doctor.

C) Act like Jesus and proverbially (not physically, of course;-) overturn the Temple tables.

Sometimes you have to be the "bad" person.

When your child is in a medical (most special needs behavior problems are medical) crisis, you need to act NOW.

It is not a time to worry about the doctor's opinion of you.

It is not a season to find a whole new team of doctors.

It is a time to turn over the Temple tables and get the help you need for your child.

Even that can be exhausting.

Honestly, there are doctors that just become blank trying to cope with your "emotional" outburst, and they refuse to budge.  They might even pat you on the shoulder just to get you out of their office.

It causes you to reach for chocolate or possibly a long, hot bath...

It is then that I bring in the Holy Spirit

Confrontation usually doesn't work when someone is so irrational that they victimize special needs people deliberately. 

Yet, the Holy Spirit who wants our children safe and sound will guide us.  He will protect us as a mother hen covers her chicks.  

He will draw us and our children close to Him and lead us one step at a time to His appointed answer.

Don't give up in the face of abuse of your child.  God is a God of Justice and He will contend with the tyrants.  There is an answer.

Just follow the Holy Spirit as He will lead you on the right path.

He knows your needs and will answer you in His perfect way and time.

In His grip~Kim

Originally published 5/13/2014

Count it All Joy

I held on through the turning of the ambulance, all the while watching my special needs son sitting in front of me on the stretcher. His face showed consummation of sadness and agitation, and yet, he seemed to take each jolt of the truck with ease...

We had to go to the store for some basic necessities, and then he blew. It came from nowhere obvious. The same old argument over excessive food, which I gently reminded him was against the rules.  

A lightning bolt of emotion fell from the sky, which began with the yelling, the flying of shoes, and threats of running through the store.

The tantrum did not end until he ended up in the ambulance.  By this time, his system was calmed by the rocking movement of the truck and his reactions soothed.

We had had incidents before, but never like this.  My emotions are still raw and wounded.

Time and again 

We, as parents, work tirelessly around the clock to ensure our children's needs are met.

We face emotional challenges that the "normal" family does not even consider.

Our children arrive at a new stage in their special needs condition and we scramble for information.

We spend hours on end making phone calls and appointments, advocating for the best care for our children.

We drive countless hours to and from appointments.

Then, a crisis hits.  

It is a jolt to the system.  It upsets everyone.  We wonder yet again, why we have this life.  Yes, sometimes we even wonder if God cares about us.

The rest of the world seems to think that we should just continue to backflip, jumping through other's hoops while continuing to care for our children without any extra assistance.  Crisis or not, their world must go on. I am always amazed at that attitude.

I challenge them to live this life and live in their world too.  

Advocacy becomes a constant task, branching out beyond the walls of the medical world, into the educational system, family, friends, church, and our community.  It naturally breaks down the walls of separation, because we HAVE to work through the crisis.

Even if we don't have the support of those around us, we must carry out treatment for our children to the best of our ability.  Even when the medical world shuts the door in our face.  Even when support people, who are supposed to help us do not.  God defies all obstacles to help us.

God has already provided in our time of need.

There are seasons when we have to work twice as hard to accomplish what needs to be done.  It is the special needs life.  Faith without works is dead.

We may think we need to solve our crisis without God's help, but He has the solution.  God has a good track record to help us through.  He wants us to lay down our hearts before Him, at the cross, and LISTEN to the Holy Spirit.  He even has the solutions to our problems in the future. 

We can't give up, for our children's sake. Read His Word, listen to praise music, or pray without ceasing. The answer WILL come.

We think we need to tell God how to fix things.  We can try to use our worldly problem-solving to resolve a crisis or a problem.  We do this because we are human.  It may work for a while.  But, it won't bring us peace.

Yet, God sent His Son, Jesus to die for our sins for exactly this reason.  He wants to help us, and take His yoke upon our shoulders.  He created this world.  He created our children.

Just know that even on the dark days, the Lord will see you through to a solution. Have faith that He has a plan.

In His grip~Kim

Originally published on 5/3/2014