Last night I picked up a book to begin reading entitled Unbroken Faith by Diane Dokko Kim. I confess of never having heard of her before but the subject of the book intrigued me. It is subtitled “Spiritual Recovery for the special-needs parent.” I have only read the foreword by Joni Eareckson Tada, a quad since she had a swimming accident as a teenager. And I have read the Introduction by Mrs. Kim. What drew me to the book were several things: First, we have several who have special-needs kids, some of them on the spectrum. In fact, one recently found out both her twin boys are on the spectrum. Second, I would like to know some answers as to how I can help them. Since I have had two girls who have not had special needs, my hands are tied in understanding and helping. But I want to learn how I can help these parents as their pastor. This book comes highly recommended so I look forward to learning.
I was struck by an opening quote used between the foreword and the introduction. Just one simple line:
The world breaks everyone and afterward some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.
Hemingway definitely had his demons, as do we all. Sadly, his demons led him to take his own life. He was broken but failed to take his own advice and get stronger. That is not a put-down of Mr. Hemingway, but an observation based on knowing others like him. I suspect if not for my faith, I may have felt like that a time or two myself. I never, ever had the urge to end my life, but I have been down in the dumps from time to time. Fortunately, my extroverted, positive personality hasn’t let me stay in the shadows for very long. Even when I lost my job a couple of times, I never fell that low.
My faith tells me that I am being tested to come out stronger. The Apostle Peter wrote, “There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious that mere gold.” (I Peter 1:6-7 NLT) What Mr. Hemingway wrote is true: people can become stronger at the broken places. That is never more true than for the one who follows Christ. Let’s use our challenges, our broken places, as places to fortify ourselves and to build our faith.
