A couple of weeks back I was given an opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the friends and church family that I am blessed to have.
I was with my family at a hotel for a couple of days fairly recently and of course we had Mystery with us. It is often interesting to see different people’s reaction to her, having being diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Most interaction we have with strangers is fairly fleeting (in passing in a shopping centre, waiting in a queue, etc.). In this instance we were with strangers for an extended period over meals so we got a good dose of people’s reactions.
Since both my husband and I are prophetic, having this gifting probably enables us to “feel” the atmosphere a little more acutely than the average person, so after our first breakfast we privately commented on the “atmosphere” we both strongly picked up. It is probably something people with “special needs” children have to deal with often.
I remember the influx of reactions when we first had Mystery and she was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Although, I know it is only natural for someone to feel sorry for you when you’re in those circumstances (God knows I felt sorry for myself), I think people’s sympathy was the last thing I wanted to get at the time. It reinforced the idea that this was some horror I was not only currently walking in but would have to live with for the rest of my life. It scared me. And their sympathy only more clearly painted a picture of doom and hopelessness.
But I am thankful – so very thankful – for my friends and family at that time that came to me with something other than sympathy, that brought hope. I can remember my sister telling me over the phone that she just couldn’t feel sad about Mystery since she had such assurance of the huge blessing she was going to be. Jenni, a prophetic friend of mine sent me an email telling me how convinced she was that God and heaven were celebrating her at her birth and how we should be doing likewise. Another good friend of mine told me of a dream she had where she was in heaven and God was holding Mystery in His arms and telling her how incredibly special, treasured and precious she was. These and others helped me to see the treasure in the apparent darkness of the moment. They helped me to see my Mystery how God saw her and it brought such hope and courage to my soul.
Since that day, my family, friends and our church community have continued to do this – and not in that sloppy ‘say something nice’ insincere kind of way just because they don’t know what else to do. We live in a community of believers that are constantly fully expecting Mystery to rise into the greatness prophesied over her and she is thriving in it. We and the people around her see her and treat her like she is a special gift from God, with a special and powerful anointing on her life. They are believing with us for the amazing prophetic words over her life and we can see the effect of their faith with ours on her life. I salute them for, like God, seeing the gold in a person. It was no great surprise to us that she saw her first miraculous healing a couple of months ago.
I have so many people just wanting to be around her and hold her because of the anointing on her life. These are the people that see beyond the natural. Not so many months ago, Joaquin Evans, a man who has an incredible anointing on his life, has seen so many amazing miracles and ministered around the world, sat down next to Mystery and just “received” what God had put on her life. I honour people like these who see and receive the greatness on her life. They are blessed. It is only when we see the greatness and the gold of God in someone that we can receive it.
So sitting in this Hotel dining room and feeling the people’s negative reactions which we were not accustomed to, made them particularly striking. Firstly we could feel people’s fear, fear of the unknown – how will this child act, how will they respond. And fear in the possible realisation that they have no real control over whether this sort of thing could come knocking on their door and what it would cost them, what it potentially could steal from them.
Obviously this fear stems from their perceptions of the conditions. When people see someone who is handicapped in some way (whether mentally or physically) they immediately feel sorry for them or as in some cases like ours, for the people left to care for them. Before my experience with Mystery, I have to admit I definitely fell into this category so I don’t in anyway judge those who do. In fact I understand that my and their own ignorance and lack of experience led them to this type of thinking. Anyway, both Nigel and I could feel the people around us pitying us. It was thick in the air.
At these moments, it is so tempting to look at your child through these eyes and if you do, you can feel the hope and faith draining from you. You see the burden they see, your expectations for the child and what they will amount to fade away and fear fills you as hopeless visions of the future flash past. And if a parent gives into this temptation, their child will most likely experience the ceiling of possibilities lowered over their heads. It was then that I was so incredibly thankful for the people around me who constantly remind me of how God sees Mystery and what He has planned for her life. I was so thankful for the faith it produced and the atmosphere and environment it creates for her to be great and fulfil the said impossible dreams our Daddy has for her despite the supposed limitations.
Thank you to all my friends and family for your faith and calling out the gold of those around you. I truely live in a most empowering community of believers. They see the gold in people, the value, the greatness – not only those with physical handicaps, but those who have been handicapped by life. Those who have believed they are nothing, will amount to nothing. They are celebrated as precious. They are encouraged into the greatness God knowingly knitted into them.
I recently heard a talk by Gianna Jessen. She is an abortion survivor who has cerebral palsy. What a remarkable woman, making a remarkable impact in the world despite her limitations. She said, “…there are things that you will only be able to learn by the weakest among us. And when you snuff them out, you are the one that looses.” I have learnt so much in the last two years of living with Mystery. I recently spoke to a friend of mine who told me of her friends that were encouraged to abort their baby because of possible deformities. They chose not to kill her. She arrived into this world without arms. Her parents testify that she has taught them so much about what it means to have courage.
Can you imagine a world without any weak in it. What sort of people would we be? They teach us so much about life. They humble us when we watch them rise so courageously above their limitations or when we see the shallowness of some of the things that we value.
“I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places…” Is 45:3
What gold from God will we find in the most unlikely places, if we just look through His eyes.
By Debbie my guest blogger.
