Especially Needful...and the (Hidden) Blessings of Special Needs

I consider myself a woman of faith. Sure there were times during my teenage years when I questioned certain points of doctrine, but I never once questioned the existence of a Father in Heaven. Over the years, my conviction has been strengthened by...well...life. When I was younger, I imagined my future. Never once did a special needs child enter that picture. During my pregnancy, when we discovered a "problem," my faith was tested. Even though I believed in God and my Savior, there were times I felt alone. But now, years later, I see how our experiences with Samantha has done nothing but strengthened my faith in God and His greater plan. She has given me a brighter hope for the future and filled my heart and entire soul with more love than I thought possible. She is a blessing...and one of the many blessings I have received since she entered our lives...formed just the way she is.

Six months after she was born, I was overwhelmed and discouraged. I didn't think I could do it...hang on...be the kind of mom I had always envisioned. Special needs was much more complicated than I was made for, of that I was sure. During this time, deep down I knew I could do it. My faith in a loving Heavenly Father allows me to truly believe we don't receive those things we really can't handle. He'll help us. But I did feel very overwhelmed. I recognized that these feelings were a lack of faith and I needed some strengthening.

I wasn't ready for support groups. I didn't want to find others who were in similar situations because at that time, it was too painful. I constantly compared kids and tried to determine Samantha's future. What I wanted, in the solitude of my tearful nights, was to quietly hear what I needed. I sought out books, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. I spent a lot of time praying and reading the scriptures and other religious material that helped me through that time, but I had already decided that one day, I was going to create that book I had been looking for. It would be a book written by families who live special needs FOR families who live special needs. It would be a compilation of experiences from mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, close family friends of our special needs kids who truthfully and lovingly share their experiences. The link between them all would be the thread of hope and faith. Hope for the future. Faith that there is a greater plan. The book would serve as a reminder to us all that despite the complications and hardships that comes with special needs -- we are blessed. It would be a reminder that we can do it. We can move forward and be happy, perhaps even happier because of our special needs experiences. It's an attempt to help us either remember, or learn for the first time what Helen Keller said:

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it

and that there is joy on the other side. My book was born almost a year ago. It is titled Especially Needful...and the (hidden) Blessings of Special Needs. It's coming along well and I plan on submitting to the publisher in May. I have received a wide variety of stories written in many different formats, and it seems to all just blend together well. This is all very exciting. While putting it together, I have felt divinely guided and it has been a very rewarding experience for me.

However, I can't shake the feeling that there are families missing. And so, I turn to you. I turn to our Kidz community and extend the invitation to all of you to participate and write in this book. Maybe there is something that you have already written that would be beneficial. Maybe you've had thoughts lately that you want to write down, and this can be the motivation to actually sit down and do it. But, if you are at all interested, please ... join the team. Be a part of this book. Perhaps you can be among those who write in this book who rescue those who are currently suffering, but don't need to be anymore.

"Never underestimate the far-reaching influence of your testimony. You can strengthen one another; you have the capacity to notice the unnoticed. When you have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to feel, you can reach out and rescue others...."

~ President Thomas S. Monson

If you are interested, leave a comment with your email address and I will contact you directly with more information.