Belief

There is so much influence through social media in today's world. So much. Between political views, how to raise children, how many people you know, and faith. Sometimes I can't stand to look at my newsfeed. Especially with the upcoming election.

Today I don't want to talk about who you're going to vote for (It's your right as an American to vote for who you believe is best. It's also your facebook friend's right to vote for who they think is best. It might be different. And that's ok.) I don't want to talk to you about how to raise your kids (This also is an individual thing. You know what works best for your family. Do that. There is no book on this subject.) I don't really care how many people you know (As long as you surround yourself with quality people who enrich your life, it can be one or a million.)

I do want to talk about my faith. It might be different from yours. I won't push my beliefs on you. I promise. And you don't have to finish reading this if you're not interested. That's ok too.

I want to talk about my faith and this face. The oldest child in our family.

 

 

I was raised in a Christian household. Lutheran to be exact. We went to Sunday School every week. We followed it with church and breakfast at McDonald's. I went through confirmation with my younger sister. We attended youth group. We loved the fellowship & friendships.

 

 

I had David almost 17 years ago. My faith was shaken, but not broken. We moved away from my home church. It took a long time to find a church that felt like home to us. We now attend a Methodist church with a wonderful support system. It may be a different denomination than I grew up with, but we still follow the same beliefs. It feels right.

 

 

When David was 3, one doctor told us that we should not expect him to live into his 20's. While shocking to hear, at that time, 20 seemed so far away to us. Through the years, we've been told similar things in more round about ways. Still hard to hear. Then 3 years ago we saw that same doctor who was the first one to utter those words to us. And he said them again. While David seems healthy on a day-to-day basis, he is at severe risk for micro-aspiration and other minor ailments to you or I, but major to him. While he's grown larger with age, sadly, his immune system remains the same-extremely vulnerable. And when he told us the same thing 3 years ago that he told us when David was 3, it became a lot more real. A lot harder to hear. And a lot scarier.

 

 

It was then that my faith became a larger factor in my life. I began to pray everyday. I pray that David has a long life. And I also pray that if he doesn't, that I will be reunited with him one day in heaven. To have him be able to hear me say "I love you", to be able to hear him say he loves me.

 

To have a child that basically has a rough time-limit stamped on him is hard. I need my faith. I need to know that one day we will be reunited. I need to be able to reassure my younger child in unforeseen events that one day he will be reunited with him. My husband needs his faith for the same reasons and to stay strong when I occasionally fall apart. 

 

To be honest, David could live so much longer than they tell us. He could outlive all of us. He's my superhero daily. Doctors can be wrong. But they can also be right. If I didn't have faith, I think I would fall apart much more frequently than I do.

 

It's ok if we have different beliefs. I hope yours can give you the same kind of faith that I have in my beliefs. Let's not judge one another on social media for what we believe. I've seen so much of it lately, and some days it's really hard to see. Because while we may have different beliefs, I really want to believe that we all want to aim for similar goals of peace & kindness in this world. Attacking others is not the way we should be going about it.

 

Be good. That's my hope.