Raising Special Stars

Week 1
Look Up, Love
Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.
—Isaiah 40:26 (NLT)

I wish I could tell you that it is always sunny and seventy-five in Holland, but that wouldn’t be true. That isn’t true for Italy either. I know sometimes we think Italy is a perfect place without rain, but it hails there as well. I have friends who live there and tell me it actually isn’t always perfect. The weather is always changing, and right when one season ends, another begins. Holland is different from Italy, though. There are different mountains to climb, views to see, and winds to blow our way. If you are reading this and wondering why I am talking about Holland and Italy it’s all explained in a beautiful essay in the introduction. Our plane landed in Holland about seven years ago. We have had quite the adventure.
Our daughters have Joubert syndrome, a rare condition. The first time I had ever heard of it was when they were diagnosed. It poses a high risk of kidney and liver disease and causes a lot of disabilities. The challenges and obstacles that my girls face are not things that I could have ever prepared for. I have grieved the loss of the life I thought I would have as well as the possibility of losing our girls to the vicious diseases that often make their way into kids with Joubert syndrome.
For so long I became accustomed to looking down. Both my children and I were always picked last. Nobody wanted to enter my world, but I was desperate to enter theirs. Although every time I tried, I was just reminded that I didn’t belong. I was a special needs mom; I lived in the unknown. All that I had dreamed motherhood would be had changed.
God found me in Holland. He reminded me that although my journey of motherhood is always changing, He stays the same. When I have to survive the chaos, He provides the constant. When everyone in my life just can’t understand, He does. When I show up with my two fish, He supplies the rest. When all I see are burdens, He shows me blessings. One thing I have found to be true is that God isn’t afraid of Holland. He actually treasures it.
I started asking God to show me who I am. I needed Him to speak identity into me. I asked Him to take away anything I was believing about myself that wasn’t true and fill my heart with what He had spoken over me from the start.
Gentle and gracious, God said the words “set apart.” For the first time in my life, I knew a piece of my identity. I was set apart—not better or less than. I want to emphasize not less than because while being a mom with kids who have disabilities, I often do feel less than. But no, I’m not less than. I’m set apart. You are too.
I needed God to show me “set apart” in scripture. He is kind and present, so He did. He showed me the star that shone so bright shortly after Jesus was born, the star that the wise men followed. This star was different from the rest but full of purpose. Many people looked up into the dark sky that night and didn’t appreciate the way it shined differently or moved among the rest. But the wise men looked up and saw it as set apart and set in the sky by God. They chose that special set-apart star and followed it to Jesus.
Matthew 2:10 (NLT) reads, “When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!” Our stories and journeys are different. We all entered motherhood with dreams and expectations, and a lot of us have had to redream and let go of the expectations that once harbored in our hearts. Many of us have wrestled with God, and many of us have been wounded by others. Some of us still can’t go back to church, and others lead Bible studies for moms every week. A few of us live in Holland with all our kids or just live there part time with one as we find balance with our children who were born in Italy. But we have all walked the streets at one point or another with our heads down, feeling less than.
I want to invite you to see the stars again and to look up and be reminded for the next sixteen weeks that even in the darkest nights, God gave us the stars. I want you to experience God’s promises in your journey that you never truly knew belonged to you and to find empowerment in your days ahead. I want your story to burn brightly as it is set apart from the rest. It just may be the star that leads a few to the King. So whether you are doing this by yourself or in a small group, I invite you to see the stars and be reminded that just as God calls the stars by name, He has called YOU by name as well. He has called you to raise your special stars to shine in the brilliant way they were created to shine and to lead a life full of purpose!