If I most humbly might, Theo, kp -- indeed I do believe that children are set apart to God, at least up to the age of accountability as is taught in Judaism, and which is at what age? 13? Isn't it even written in the Psalms that God Himself knits us together within our mother's wombs? Isn't it written that He knows our innermost beings before we so much as take our first breath? Didn't Yahushua say that it would better for one to have a millstone tied around his neck and his body thrown into the deepest part of the sea than for anyone to cause one of the "little ones" to sin? How attentive He is regarding children, and this isn't contigent upon whether one is born whole or what the world deems abnormal. How could anything that God creates, such as a child, ever be considered less than a miracle? And of course, there are so many more Biblical references, regarding children, that one need not wonder, for surely it seems clear.
You guys are really pulling at my heartstrings here, even inasmuchas it is that I have a disabled child, and one whom I consider no less than a gift! I stand in awe of Yahweh, even on a daily basis, to think that He found me worthy enough, trustworthy enough, to care for this most defenseless one, and for as long as He (God) has determined that he (Stephen) shall live, and everyday and every month through each passing year that he does live, that his heart doesn't fail him, is no less a gift! But even more than that, I get to take part in God's purpose for him, which has thus far been to educate people who might otherwise abort or abandon such as him! Because there is Stephen so many unborn babies have been given a chance to live and in one way or another bless those around them.
Please forgive me, as I may tend to get lengthy, but God never does cease to amaze me, and one of my most favorite things to do is to share in the wonder of HIM! So if I may continue ... regarding the above post by Theo, regarding his friend. Can you tell us more about him? Is he on any meds? Does he have a chemical imbalance? Are there particular tests or trials going on in his life? Or perhaps he's having a reaction to a prescribed medication that's adversely affecting him?
I come from a long line of alcoholics, and have seen the devastation. My mother was an alcoholic, and dead at but age 34. She so played games with God, through the last few years of her life spent fighting cancer. One moment she'd be on death's door and begging God's mercy, and the next she'd be out the door, to the amazement of her myriad of doctors who couldn't imagine how it was she'd survived! God's mercy. But no sooner than she would make such a miraculous recovery than she would be off to the bars and the men again. I need a moment here .. to reflect ...
I sometimes think God must have taken her while He yet had her -- in one of her repentent states, and while the three of us -- however orphaned -- were, for the first time in a very long time, safe, warm and dry. I want to talk about this a bit too, inasmuchas it was so very much God who made right so many horrible wrongs, and made even all of the horrors so very worthwhile.
As I mentioned, previously, upon her death the three of us were orphaned, but God moved within the heart of my brother's teacher who, along with his wife, decided to move their own three children over and us in to their home. In order to do this they had to move literal mountains, for all of the legalities involved. He was a mere teacher and they did have three kids of their own. We would all need beds of our own and so many other things. For a long while there it was one Washington State courtroom after another, but eventually, if only temporarily, they were allowed to keep us, but not to adobt us, as the state found it in our best interest that we be placed with family. Neither the Wilson's nor the three of us had any say in the matter and family was found, albeit in another state, California, and nevermind that we barely knew them and that for the first time in our lives we would be separated, to boot, which was like death to me, being the oldest and more like a mother than sibling. Taking care of my brother and sister was all that I knew. Well, that and God. I knew Him then, too.
To make a rather long story short, we weren't allowed to stay with the Wilson's and so off we went, to California to live separate and apart, and for a very long time it didn't make much sense to me, but I had no choice but to continue to trust God to know what He was doing in our lives even if it didn't make sense (and was quite painful and frightening besides) to me. Many years later, upon contacting the Wilson's who I yet hold very near and dear to my heart I came to realize God's purpose in everything, which is to say that though we were the Wilson's first foster children we were most certainly not their last! After the three of us they went on to take in more than 160 frightened, lost, abused abandoned children such as we were, and I well understood then that but for the three of us, that would never have happened. But for the three of us, and the fact that we weren't allowed to stay, there wouldn't have come to be those so many other children who couldn't have been but blessed to have been so loved and cared for by the Wilson's. So though we may have hurt, and so though we may have been frightened, and so though we were not allowed to remain together I can so clearly see and praise God for His higher, all knowing, purpose, and there is not so much as one moment that I would change. Not one.
No, He does not ever cease to amaze me.