Not Why, but What

Many parents with children on the spectrum are concerned about their child's ability to become potty trained.

The reality is they don't make pull-ups in size 10.

When you change a diaper of a five-year-old it's not pretty. Isaac's journey of potty training started like most other children around three years old. Then four years old then five years old ...

I  began to think he would never fully get it.

We tried all of the techniques --rewards chart, candy, stickers, praise, etc.

Nothing seemed to work. I even remember reaching out to regional center and asking them for help.

I need professional help! I need a full-time assistant that can follow Isaac around and take him potty every hour on the hour. I tried to get this approved by regional center but it did not go through. Finally, I  turned to fervent and specific prayer and continued to cry out to God.

Chuck and I were constantly praying and asking God to help Isaac  learn how to use the potty. One summer I became extremely overwhelmed. I had cleaned up poop from the restroom wall and my sons body and out of his underwear and out of his pants one too many times. I began to sob loudly.
"What Lord ?what is it you're trying to teach me through this? I'm not going to ask you why I just want to know what ??? what lesson am I supposed to learn from this?"

I did not get a booming voice from heaven. But what I got was an answer to my prayers. I was learning humility. God was teaching me to be humble and teaching me that I would need to be there for my son no matter how hard no matter the challenge and regardless of how downright gross it would be.

The Lord taught me in all of those potty training moments that there was nothing beyond Gods spotlight. God knows everything he knows the ugly truth, the pain, sorrow and the pit of dirt and shame ...

The religious leaders often scoffed at Jesus because he was reaching out to the rejected of the world the prostitutes the tax collectors.

These people were  the scum of the earth. That's sort of what I was doing. I was helping Isaac in one of the most challenging tasks. As I would clean my son over and over again, God was teaching me not to lose heart not to give up hope on my boy. God doesn't give up on us.

After literally years of working on this ---Isaac was potty trained and I'm proud to say it was through God's help and not one finger of an autism professional. God used me ---little me --to help my son overcome a huge obstacle ---something that would help him in his life forever-using the potty. This part of our journey is very hard for me to share because it really hit me to my core.

Not "why Lord?" But what Lord ?  what are you teaching me?? God wanted to teach me humility and to be able to wait on him and cry and try again. (Isaiah 40:31)

Still to this day I am so proud of my son for learning how to use the potty. It takes persistence and a lot of love and patience to help a child with autism grasp this huge lifelong skill. The reality is there are children on the spectrum and adults that can't do this. This was a huge breakthrough for Isaac this was a huge breakthrough for my family and just one little glimpse of what it's like on our journey with autism...
Phil 4:13