Saturday, August 15, 2009

Clarification

I realize that maybe I did not begin this study with clear intentions. When I set out, my focus was on my children and others like them. As far as I know none of my children were sexually abused, which I praise the Lord for nor do any of them have the ill effects of being born to drug addicted mothers. However, one of our daughters was physically abused by her mother and left for dead. Our son was strapped to his mothers back while she was brutally murdered. Another son lay next to his mother is the hospital while she slowly died of HIV. When the family came to collect her body, my son was left behind. And the other three were each abandoned and experienced some level of neglect in the orphanage.

I
want to make myself clear that I do agree that our children's past (abuse, trauma, neglect) can/often does effects them in a negative way. I agree that there is a place for doctors when the problem/behavior has a physical cause. For example, I am on thyroid medication and before I was diagnosed and treated I was a mental mess. Alcohol and drugs use invetro definitely alters the brain chemistry in a child.

I am also familiar with mental illnesses--when I was 16 I spent over three months in an eating disorder clinic which was on the same floor as the behavioral health unit--I saw it all. I spent hours upon hours in counseling/psychiatric offices--at my parents force. But, it was when I finally realized that I was living in sin that I opened the door for the Lord to begin setting me free (but that it for another post).

Therefore, I believe that it can be concluded that there are behaviors that stem from a physical causes but there are also behaviors that are rooted in sin. Either way, we need to seek the Lord for wisdom and understanding.

If you know me personally you know that I am not one to cause division. I do not pick fights or begin arguments for the sake of doing so. I love the Lord and desire to minister to other families that are in the same spiritual battle--raising hurting kids to find freedom and joy in Jesus Christ our Counselor.

I would highly recommend the book, "How to Counsel God's Way" by Bob Hoekstra. This is what he says,

"Issues of ungodliness and sinfulness are bring eclipsed by a new pathological vocabulary of diseases and disorders. Consequently, God's true remedies for real problems are by-passed in place in man's counterfeit remedies for imagined problems.

Such assertions do not mean that biblical counselors are to deny actual psychological problems that can plague humanity. Being committed to to the word of God, instead of to the psychological theories of man, does not mean one refuses to acknowledge such problems as brain diseases or genetic brain maladies...The scriptures describe man as having a physical aspect to his make up, and this physical makeup can contrast diseases and can function improperly"
Pg. 304


Please, accept my forgiveness if I hurt or offended you. I hope and pray that this post brings clarification to the intentions of my heart.

*I am removing the poll as I realize now that it is not helpful.*

8 comments:

BETHANY said...

Love ya!

And no, I'm still not in bed and it's 12:30am. :)

Gary and Michelle said...

I think you are right. Wisdom is the key to knowing what we as parents are dealing with.

Thankfully when we ask for wisdom we will receive it (James 1)

May the Lord help us all as we raise these children for His glory.

Michelle

Shonni said...

Keep on shinning light, sister...

TheHappyNeills said...

thank you for sharing all this!

I agree that ultimately, the LORD is the only true healer of our hearts and broken minds or broken bodies!

Yes, ultimately it is a spiritual battle, no matter if a child is special needs or not! Amen! Satan wants any of these little ones he can get!

I have asked Dorothy at urbanservant.blogspot.com if she would share her thoughts specifically on spiritually training/disciplining children with disabilities vs children with no disabilities. I hope she will--I think it'd be a great subject to read about!

Your little ones' stories broke my heart...I know things like this happen all over the world. Praise our God they are SAFE now and He has placed them in a godly family! HE IS GOOD!

JG said...

Thanks for stopping by. As you can see, I got a very left-field response. It's hard, over the internet, to know who to receive or approach certain things.

I also wanted to add, I didn't really understand where some of those other commenters were coming from. I've been "lurking" on your blog for a while and I've never seen you come across as anything other than just honest, sincere, and loving. So don't take every comment to heart.

My mother's family has a long history of depression. Most adult members of that family are treated for depression one way or another. Whether this is a spiritual curse or a genetic condition, I think it comes down to the same thing. In the same way God may not "heal" an amputee, but He may give him the grace and blessing needed to live a faithful life, he may not "heal" us the way we think we should be healed of psychological issues, either. As far as we know, Paul had that thorn in his side until he died. But either way, in the end, the purpose is that our response be "The Lord has done great things for me!"

thephotographerswife said...

Hey summer, I'm so sorry you got so much negativity with this topic. I guess I can sort of see both sides, but harshness is NEVER appropriate. :)

Our boy, even at 13 days old, showed many signs of R.A.D. - it was depressing. Obviously, not because of any sin on his part - and really, not his mom's fault either. I guess I could go so far as to say it was rooted in his biological father's sin, but that is so unrelated to our baby as far as his actual actions - anyway. I'm not sure why I'm even telling you this? :) I guess just to say that I can see both sides, but I'm sad that so many people want to medicate/make excuses for their "conditions".

I hope YOU are feeling better day by day!!! :)

Feel free to NOT post this if you don't want to! :)

Adeye said...

Oh dear friend, you certainly have not offended anyone. Your heart is so pure before the Father and your intentions are absolutely in the right place. Don't you worry about a thing. Yes, Jesus is MORE than enough--He is MORE than we could ever want or need.
Please let us know how you are feeling. Any better?

You are SUCH a blessing to me, and to many others. Keep on keeping on, sweet friend.

Bethany W. said...

I read these posts in reverse order, so I read this one first (and came back to comment). I appreciate the thought that went into these posts! Your tone sounds loving and concerned. I think you did a great job in writing these posts.

Bethany