Our homeschool year is winding down to a close, and as a result, I’m finally spending some time organizing and cleaning out closets and weird storage places in my house. My second son is also graduating from his homeschool program. That has its own set of crazy emotions.
My hope chest
I have a cedar hope chest that sits at the end of our bed. It’s filled to the brim with birthday cards, letters, wedding mementos, and years of homemade Mother’s Day gifts from my children.
I laughed hysterically as I read my son’s answers to questions about his mom in his younger years:
What is your mom’s favorite holiday?
My son wrote: valintine’s day (spelled like that, yes)
Why?
She likes when she gets the candy! Touche, son, touche!
I’m Overwhelmed With Gratefulness
As I was going through those items, I found a shoe-box bin full of cards we received during my son’s diagnosis, and his hospital stays after birth. I sat on my floor in tears, amazed.
There was that one teacher who repeatedly sent cards. There were some from the friend of a friend of a friend. There was a card from Estonia and many from others, who have passed away. I cried tears of joy and sadness and remembered all the hard things we had been through. I was blessed and overwhelmed.
As a result of writing The Other Side of Special the ritual of remembering it has overwhelmed me with gratitude and humility. Thankful that God would choose to use me to help others and grateful that we don’t have to do this journey of parenting a child with a disability alone.
All of us are a product of God’s love, His word, and His people.
It struck me
The words, the people, the cards, and the encouragement are like drops of water dripping into the bucket of our lives. Over time, they spill out and can turn into something beautiful, overflowing into the lives of others, giving encouragement, nourishment, and renewal.
What Does This Mean For You?
Send the card. Do the thing. When God moves in your heart to do that small thing, don’t believe that it won’t make a difference. It does. Send the card.
Save the card. I am all about minimizing junk in our homes, and I did clean out that crazy full hope chest, but I did save quite a bit because we need to remember.
Remember & reflect. Take time to remember and reflect. Go read the notes, the cards, scripture. It could be the key to remembering who loves you, where you’ve been, and how God is with you. It might be the key to remembering that God is writing your story, and He has a plan for you and your child.
Lastly, if you have never received a card, consider this your first. I want to share the words of a friend who sent me this letter one week after Toby was born. She had already been a special needs mom for four years when my son came long.
Her words, alongside some of my own, are for you.
Dear Mama (Put your name here)
The things we experience in life, I believe, are meant to help us grow spiritually and also open up ministry opportunities. Because you are ____ (you fill in the blank), you can relate to other ___ in the same situation. Now that you have your child with special needs, God has opened up a new world of hurting people. They need so uch encouragement and are hungry for hope. A lot of times we don’t want to take this ministry on because we don’t want our kids to be labeled as “special needs kids.”
It can be quite draining.
It can be hard to deal with other people’s burdens when we have so many of our own, but I have found that being able to help someone in tough circumstances has given me purpose and meaning to our own situation.
Remember, God sees you. God has a purpose for your pain. Let Him be your strength. You never know how God may use you in ways small or big. We all impact one another. Let your life drip drops of water into others for His glory.
Carrie M. Holt 
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