What The Disabled Taught Me

Two of my sisters, my grandmother, and I were blessed to be able to serve at a camp for people with special needs called Joni and friends family camp a couple of weeks ago. I went with the intention of blessing others, but I was the one who was blessed by the experience. The lessons I learned while being there were priceless! 

Every Good Thing

One thing that I became increasingly aware of was the fact that everything we have is a gift from God!

I discovered that I had thought of my mental and physical abilities as things that were rightfully mine. I did not realize that God did not have to give me the abilities that He would be totally fair in not giving them to me. As I spent time with the blind, the crippled, and the mute I realized that the things I thought were my right were really a gift.  I did not earn them, and God had no obligation to me, but he gave me everything that I have. The only reason I can speak, see, reason, hear, walk, read, eat, breath, or do anything is because God has given me that gift. Some of the people had feeding tubes and had never eaten anything orally. I realized that even something as simple as eating an ice cream cone is a gift from God! James 1:17 says, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." God does not give us all the same gifts, but we are each given gifts. We must realize that they are from God and praise Him for them. I learned thankfulness.

Helpless

There were two twin brothers who were both in wheel chairs there. They had such bad seizures that they could not even be in a room with ceiling fans because the motion triggered their seizures. These two boys could do absolutely nothing for themselves and were dependant on others to everything for them. I thought, "How sad. They must feel so helpless!" It was then that I realized that all people are dependant on someone else for everything. We are all dependant on God For everything, some of us just do not know we need Him. Hebrews 1:3a says,"And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." We are all helpless and our only hope is to call out to God for mercy.

No Room For Boasting

Over the week I was brought face to face with my ugly pride. I realized that if everything I had was a gift, then all the things my pride had stood on were crumbling. My academic achievements were only possible because God had given me a capable brain. My physical achievements were only  possible because God had given me a capable body. I can do nothing without Him! Romans 3:27a " Where then is boasting? It is excluded." I learned that there is simply no room for boasting. 

Valuable

There was one boy at camp who everybody knew and loved. His name was Judson, but everyone called him Juddy. His entire face was always absorbed in a smile. He could not do anything else, but his joy was contagious! I realized that I placed so much of my value and other's value in our abilities. I realized that I had been selfish in my relationships, seeking to gain rather than to give. True love is giving of ones self freely to benefit another. There were other children there who were moody and did not have pleasant dispositions. These children caused me to examine my own motives in serving. I had a choice to make, to love or not love. It is easy to love people with pleasant dispositions or people who are talented. The true test of our love is if we love those who have nothing to offer us back and who are not grateful. I learned that we should value people not because of what they can do or even who they are, but because they are valuable to God.

I hope to be able to serve at this camp again, and I am so thankful for the lessons God taught me! God used the disabled to enabled me to see my own disabilities and weaknesses. We are all disabled in some way or another, we all have special needs, and we all need a Savior!