Does the thought of facing a new school year strike you with
fear? Is it hard to believe it’s time to buy school supplies?
Where can a parent of a special-needs child go to purchase
anxiety-free thoughts?
There’s One who offers true peace. God tells us we can cast all
our care on Him.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter
5:7
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3
If you’re like me, though, it’s still hard to fight memories of
your child’s struggles.
Here’s a suggestion: Fight bad memories with good memories. List
times God faithfully provided: patience for you, an agreeable
spirit in your child, a loving response from a teacher, a passing
grade on a test, a full week of nothing misplaced, an entire
semester of papers successfully turned in, one whole day of no
outbursts…
We can teach our children to erect monuments to God’s
faithfulness. Just like Joshua instructed the leaders to do. After
the children of Israel crossed the Jordan on dry land, they built a
holy statue of stones to mark God’s faithfulness.
In Joshua 4:21-23, we read Joshua’s words to God’s people:
He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants
ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel
crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up
the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God
did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it
up before us until we had crossed over.”
What are the
victories God has won in your child’s life? How has He helped you
during school-related struggles?
As you gather supplies for your child, collect stones of God’s
faithfulness to prepare your heart for school.
That memorial will help you face the future with assurance of
God’s future help and presence. It will also be a vivid reminder to
your child of how much God loves him. What God has done in
the past, He’ll do again.
Happy collecting!
A cairn: a man-made pile of stones; a memorial of the past and
marker for the path ahead
