Unexpected Blessings

by jphilo | Sep 18, 2019 | Different Dream, The 5 Love Languages® for Special Needs Families

Unexpected Blessings

Unexpected blessings have gotten easier to identify the longer I’ve lived here on earth. As a kid, I dreaded the stares of onlookers when I pushed Dad’s wheelchair down the sidewalk. As a new mom, the diagnosis of my baby’s life-threatening diagnosis sucked the joy out of his first day of life. As a teacher, I sometimes resented the extra time required to make accommodations for students with learning needs in my classroom.

Now I see those challenges as the unexpected blessings God used to prepare me to encourage and equip caregiving families through writing. Even so, the benefits of hindsight and age did not prepare me for the unexpected blessings of co-authoring Sharing Love Abundantly in Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities with Dr. Gary Chapman.

One of the unexpected blessings of writing Sharing Love Abundantly was an endorsement by Joni Eareckson-Tada, featured prominently on the back cover of book. (I circled Joni’s endorsement and the Joni & Friends logo in the picture above in case you missed it.)

Another blessing was being a guest on the Joni & Friends podcast hosted by Crystal Keating. By the end of the interview we felt like old friends, something that often happens when people in solved in disability ministry connect and talk. You can listen to the podcast on the Joni & Friends website, on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify.

A third blessing has been your responses as members of the disability community who too often feel relegated to the fringes of society. When you discover that the creator of the love language concepts has acknowledged your unique needs as caregivers and offers you a place at the love language table, your delight is contagious. You make me grateful for the unexpected blessings of my life that prepared me to work with Dr. Chapman.

The final blessing of writing Sharing Love Abundantly is a word of encouragement I want to share with you. You may be in a hard place right now. The disability you or a loved one lives with may be leading to despair and hopelessness in your family. You may think this season will never end. You may feel like God has abandoned you. You may doubt the return of goodness and blessing in your life.

Please know this.

I have thought those thoughts.
I have felt those feelings.
On occasion I abandoned all hope.
But God didn’t abandoned me.
He won’t abandon you.
He has unexpected blessings in store for you.

I am sure of this because of who God is. He is the God who specializes in turning challenges and hardships into blessings and goodness.

He did it for Joseph in Egypt.
He did it for the Jews taken captive in Babylon.
He did it through the work of Jesus on the cross.
He’s done it in my life.
He will do it in yours.

So wait patiently. Remain faithful. Cling to hope. Watch for unexpected blessings. Prepare to be amazed because He is the God who began a good work in you, and He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

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Jolene Philo is a published author, speaker, wife, and mother of a son with special needs.

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When Life Serves Lemonade, Drink It with Gusto!

When life serves lemonade, drink it with gusto!

Why am I turning the saying about what to do when life serves up lemons on its head?

Well, 60+ years of caregiving experience has thrown a lot of lemons my way, but our family has experienced plenty of sweetness, also. Far too often we (or at least I0 fixate on the lemons. Over the decades, I’ve discovered how important it is to to savor the sweetness when it comes instead of accepting it as my due, or worse yet, not even acknowledging it.

In August of 2019, my own personal lemonade stand opened for business with the release of Sharing Love Abundantly In Special Needs Families, which I co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman. The publisher, Northfield Press, is a division of Moody Publishing, and they brought me to Chicago for several radio interviews in their studios. The minute this small town Iowa girl set foot in the windy city, she put her motto–when life serves lemonade, drink it with gusto–into action.

Bright and early the first morning, I asked the sound engineer to take a picture of me with my headphones in the recording studio during 6 back-to-back interviews with Moody affiliate stations.

Next, I roped the publicist into taking a picture of me standing beside one the Chapman Center digital welcome signs which featured me, yes me, for the day!

I had no sooner posted those pictures on Facebook than a message came from a friend of mine whose a student at Moody.

“Where are you,” she asked.

“At the Chapman Center,” I replied.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she said. And she was.

She took a selfie of us in front of the sign because she knew I’m pretty inept at selfies. Thank you Agi!

Next, I visited the Chapman Center Love Languages exhibit. My first stop was a sit down in the chair made of books published at Moody over the years. Imagine my excitement when I looked down and there was The Silent Seduction of Self Talk written by my friend and mentor Shelly Beach.

Since Dr. Chapman and I have yet to meet in person, I screwed up my courage and took a selfie beside the photo of Dr. Chapman in the exhibit. Co-authors need to be seen together, don’t you think?

The next day I had some free time to explore Chicago. I made my way to Navy Pier…

…where I bought postcards for my grandchildren and mother. I lingered to watch children splashing in a spray fountain in the shadow of a sky scraper. Oh, the cuteness!

Then it was time to go to the studio for a national interview with Janet Parshall, host of In the Market. I was so nervous I forgot to ask someone to take a picture. Janet’s grandmother to grandkids with disabilities. I was speaking with a member of my tribe on national radio, and she quickly set me at ease.

The following day I boarded the train for home. Two weeks later, I’m still savoring the sweetness of the trip and the hope God is allowing Dr. Chapman and me to speak into the lives of other caregiving families. I’m as determined as ever to live by my motto. When my caregiving life serves lemonade, I will drink it with gusto. Will you join me?

Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the monthly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop up box and the second at the bottom of this page.

By

Jolene Philo is a published author, speaker, wife, and mother of a son with special needs.