Dear Readers,
Jenny over at The Walk recently shared the most beautiful post on Disability ministry. I asked to share it on here, and she kindly accepted! I honestly think if all churches read her writing, we would have a lot more Special Ministries in a lot more churches. So...here it is:
I used to spend hour after hour as kid pouring over Christian
biographies: Billy Graham, Corrie ten Boom, D. L. Moody, and Elizabeth
Elliot. I turned each page with curiosity, wondering what made these
people so great and so mightily used of God. I savored each book, taking
careful notes, until I read the story of Joni, a woman who broke her neck as
the result of a diving accident and is now a quadriplegic. Her story was
both griping and violent. In her conclusion, she told of the peace she
had found in the midst of living with her paralysis. The end pages of her
memoir advertised her international ministry to people with disabilities.
I threw the book under my bed and weeks later threw it out into the
trash. Joni was content to live in her body; as a 12 year old living with
cerebral palsy, I was not.
So when I really felt the call of God on my life 17 years later to minister to
individuals and families who have been impacted by disability, I had one
reaction: hysterical sobbing. Sitting in the back of a retreat center in
Alexandria, I cried so hard that a stranger came up and asked if she could hold
me while I wept. I croaked out a yes and suddenly felt my body being
wrapped in her embrace.
Over the past six months, I have been learning that engaging in disability
ministry means many different things. Sometimes it means wiping drool off
a friend’s face, or learning how to politely exit the room for a moment so they
can be assisted in the bathroom or have a tube connected so they can eat a
meal. Sometimes it involves having honest conversations with people
about painful topics like deformity and exclusion. Sometimes it looks
like witnessing parents weep. Disability ministry is a challenging and
unique calling which is transforming my relationship with others and deepening
my walk with God. I’m learning that people who suffer in this way
are close to God's heart, and they are becoming closer to mine. I’m also
learning these things:
· This is
about beholding beauty. When a person has a disability,
the task of truly perceiving their beauty can become more challenging, but at
the same time even more compelling. Physical disability, I’ve found, is
often perceived in sharp and unexpected contrast to what people expect a body
to look like, but even initial shock or a subtle startle can provide the extra
motivation necessary to enter into a deeper realm, one that carefully peers
into the human soul.
· The “big
things” God is calling you to do may actually look small in the eyes of the
world, but that doesn’t mean they’re insignificant. Ministering
to people with disabilities is largely work that goes unseen but there is
something wonderful about the pattern of feeling the gentle nudge of God,
responding in obedience, and watching Him bless the work of your hands.
· Envy is
not helpful. It’s tempting to look at the work others are doing and
wish your ministry looked similar. There are times when I have wished
that what I was called to was more mainstream, popular, or even simply more understood.
I’m learning to appreciate God’s grand design for us to work together as a
body; not focused on how we measure up to each other, but rather maintaining
our focus on God, so like Jesus, “We can do what we see the Father doing.”
Even though I've read it several times already, reading it again it touches my heart just the same. Jenny has taken the beauty that is disability ministry and poignantly illustrated it with her words.
I found what she said in her final point particularly interesting. "...I have wished that what I was called to was more mainstream, popular, or even simply more understood."
Isn't it strange that disability ministry isn't understood or popular? I don't know what there is to not understand, to not appreciate...Jesus himself sets the example for us in disability ministry. But it sadly isn't.
I hope Jenny's words reach many ears and inspire people to set out to find the true beauty that is in ministering to these precious people.
Your Blogger,
Claire
