(You Want to Test My Kid for What? Devotional #6)
Jeremiah 33:3 Call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not.
Our family was at a friend’s house for a Christmas party the year our son had turned three. Within a short time of our arrival, our son was surprised by a Christmas ornament that made noise when its button was pressed. He became terrified and burst into waves of unstoppable tears. Finally, my husband decided that we needed to go home. I, being a stay-at-home-mom, panicked at the thought of needing to give up some much needed time to fellowship with others. I couldn’t bear to leave. So my husband went home without me, and I received a ride home from friends a little later on.
I know that sounds selfish and cruel, to not be willing to leave a party when my son was so obviously upset. But after three years of needing to hide myself away from anything and anyone that might upset my child, I was truly on the edge of losing my mind. My husband said that I just needed to be more careful about where I brought him, be more aware of what might set him off.
But there was no place I could bring him that wouldn’t set him off. Even staying at home and following a set routine did not bring peace. When it was time to stop playing so that we could eat lunch, he would run across the room screaming and hit me, every day, no matter what consequences I came up with.
That evening after the Christmas party fiasco I let me husband know that I could take the status quo no longer. We needed to get help on how to help our son, and there was no way to get help, if we didn’t know what the truth of his situation was. He agreed that, as much as we did not want our beautiful boy labeled, we needed to find some answers.
The next day I called our school district’s early childhood education department to let them know that we were interested in continuing the testing that we had halted a year earlier. It was a terrifying step to take. Would the return outweigh the risks?
Thankfully we have found God to be faithful in leading us down the path of having our son, “labeled.” The support we have received because of his diagnosis has been amazing.
"Most Likely to Succeed" 