A Special Spiritual Journey

“There was an incident last Sunday with Declan in his classroom, and….” I heard the shaky voice pause take a deep breath and continue, “Gosh, this is a really hard call to make.  Thank you for being so patient.”

I knew what was potentially happening.  I wasn’t about to offer an ounce of solace.  I shifted the phone to my other ear and stared out my window as my eyes welled with tears.

“Declan is no longer allowed in the Sunday school classrooms.  We started having an adult in the classroom just to follow Declan, but Declan is too fast.  He runs around the room breaking things.  And he hurt another child.”

“I don’t want to continue this conversation any longer.”

That was all I could say.  I hung up the phone.

At a time when I felt my family was on an island.  Completely isolated and alone trying our hardest to make it through each day, the church called and told us Declan was no longer allowed in the Sunday school classroom.

We went to a very large church.  Every grade had its own room of 20+ children.  Two to three teachers per room!

There was even a special needs room we tried Declan in.  But when the teacher of that room decided to leave, we were sent an email stating one thing:

“I’m sorry.  You can still come to our church, but there is no room for Declan to go to.”

Isolated and rejected.  From our church.

The message of Christ was still one I wanted to impart on my children, as I talked about here in my post Let (ALL) the Children Come to Me.

I know how hard life can be.  I know how important my faith has been for me in my life when times have been good and tough.  I wanted the same for my kids.

We did our best.  We took the kids to the holiday services and were the family that sat in the back row.  At home I prayed with the children every day and taught them to say the Our Father, knowing THIS was the prayer God has asked us to say.

Eventually, we started doing holiday services at home.  Things were still hard with Declan and we weren’t getting a lot out of the services we went to trying to meet his needs during them.  So, we sang songs with the computer and read lessons online.

It may sound like a lot, but it wasn’t.  It didn’t feel like enough.  Was I planting enough spiritual seeds for my kids?

This year we were blessed to find a new church that was willing to work with our whole family.

When the meeting arose for middle schoolers to start the confirmation process, I took Bobby.

We learned he would have to go on four weekend retreats.  He would have to do missions work.  He would have to attend church and mandatory meetings.  He would have to learn bible passages AND do a project.

I held my breath and looked at Bobby.

“Can I do it too?”  He asked at the end of the meeting and I exhaled.

“Yes.”

Bobby chose to learn about Christ.  And at the end of his eight-month confirmation journey he decided to become a Christian.

When we were told we were not allowed to go to our church anymore five years ago, my heart broke.  Not just for myself but for my kids.  I wanted them to have the same foundation in faith as I was raised, and I was unable to provide that to them.

But prayers were answered.  And Bobby has found a home.  Not just for today, but for life, in Christ.

And I am so happy to be so blessed.