Let His light shine

These last 3 weeks have been crazy.  It has felt like a whirlwind and I am hoping to catch my breath this week.  As I watch my little girls I have been thinking about their lives and their purpose.  We are here in the world as strangers; this is not where we belong and we are just visiting.  Don't get too attached because you won't be spending much time here; in the big scheme of things.  

"...You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14

So, again I look at the lives of my little girls.  

This week I had the privilege of speaking to a Human Development class.  My neighbor asked me if I would come speak about Cri du Chat to her students.  Madelynn, Annika and I went and met these students who may become pre-school teachers in the future and I tried to pant them a picture of a parent of a special needs kid and what I would want them to know about my child.  It was very cleansing to share with these students the fears and doubts I have had over the past year ad what life might look like for my little girl.  As I stood in front of that class and spoke Madelynn was so good.  She sat and played with play dough and from time to time she added commentary to my talk.  She would chime in with, "We don't get throwed up on any more!" or "She loves it when I blow in her face."  It was no big deal to her that we were talking about her sister's lack of chromosomes or the fact that her 18 month old sister doesn't do things like other kids do.  She could care less.  She just wants her sister to laugh and maybe say her name someday.

Then I saw God's love and grace shining through my girls right then and there.  They don't get in the way of God's plan for their life, they are just living it.  This is my hope for them, that God's love shines through them and when others notice that something is different about them, they will see that it is God's love shining through them.

I only hope I can be like them and not get in the way of God's light.  I know life is short and that God has a purpose for each and everyone of us being here at this moment.  While we were in ABQ for Annika a sweet little girl who we don't actually know, but it felt like we did, passed away.  Her name was Violet and we knew her and her family from the Cri du Chat Facebook page.  Even though we will probably not meet most of these families, we still celebrate each other's victories and share each other's frustrations.  So, when sweet Violet passed away my heart ached for her family.  Here they had just been adjusting to the idea of how special their little girl would be and then God took her back.  It is hard to realize that our kids are just on loan.  I would love to actually meet this family someday because as I have followed them on Facebook through this dark time of their life, they have let His light shine every step of the way.  They have found a way to praise God through it all.  

My prayer for this week is that I stay out of God's way and he is able to use me to show others his grace and love, just like my kids and sweet little Violet.