I thought that I would share the following devotion from Joanna Lowe with you today. I get a fresh devotion from her every day and it's a great ministry. I include her email and web details at the end of the post so that you can become one of her regular subscribers if you wish to.
A SPECIAL NEEDS CHRISTIAN
Luke 10: 33 - 37
King James Version
I looked up the definition of special needs in Webster’s Dictionary “the individual requirements (as for education) of a person with a disadvantaged background, or a mental, emotional, or physical disability or a high risk of developing one.” We have many special needs Christians who have been abused and mistreated. They have been ridiculed and criticized.
When we accept Jesus into our hearts as our personal Saviour, old things are passed away and all things are become new but we still have memories and scars from our past. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5: 17).
Joyce Landorf Heatherley, a well known author and speaker, said on one of her teaching tapes “I am not super spiritual every second of the day. I have pain that wipes out my determination to go on and if I am going to make it through, it’s going to have to be because of you.” God has used Joyce so many times in my life to encourage and inspire me because she shared from her heart.
Have you ever felt so discouraged that you wanted to give up and stop serving Jesus? I think if we are honest with ourselves, and if we will stop trying to be super spiritual that all of us will have to admit that there are times when we get so discouraged that we are tempted to give up and stop serving Jesus. When I first started posting my devotions on the Internet three and a half years ago, I received so many criticizing and sarcastic emails that I cried. There were a few times that I was tempted to give up and stop serving Jesus. However, every time I wanted to give up, I remembered what Jesus did for me on the cross. I’m sure that He did not want to die on the cross for me but He did it anyway.
In our Scripture verses for today, Jesus tells us to “Go, and do thou likewise.” When we see people who are in pain; who are hurting and discouraged, we need to put our arms around them and hug them for Jesus. We don’t know what the people we sit next to in church have been through. Some of them may have been abused sexually, physically and emotionally when they were children like I was. They desperately need to know that they are loved and that they are loved unconditionally.
Your parents, your spouse, your children and your friends may be special needs Christians. Only Jesus can see into our hearts and only Jesus can take the pain, the anguish and the horror from our hearts. However, He has not been here for over two thousand years. He has left us to hug for Him. When is the last time you put your arms around someone and told that person that Jesus loves him or her unconditionally?
You may be a special needs Christian yourself. You probably have heard this saying before “You get back what you give out.” If you aren’t a loving person, and if you don’t hug people and comfort and encourage them when they are hurting, it is very doubtful that people will hug you and comfort and encourage you when you are hurting.
Did you know that Jesus is a special needs Christian? He desperately needs to know that He is loved. He was not only abused physically and emotionally when He was here on earth; He is still being abused today when people reject Him, curse Him and mock Him. How often do you tell Him that you love Him? How many times have you told Him that you love Him today? Let’s determine in our hearts to not only be an encouragement and comfort to our families, to our loved ones, to our pastors and their families but also to Jesus.
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