HELP! My Grandchild Has a Disability
The day your first grandchild was born you were not invited to consider grandparenting; suddenly you were a grandparent. That’s because grandparenting is a calling. Callings are not freely chosen. In the truest sense, callings are imposed on us. They are not sought, found, or discovered; they are answered. At first, this arrangement may not sound inviting. In fact, you may feel trapped. But just as God gives us our mission in life, so he also resources and trains us to do the work well. He can even give us an unexpected desire to love and care for a child that emboldens our hearts. But calling has another characteristic which may surprise us: we will never retire from our calling. In his book The Call, Os Guinness writes,
God calls men and women who will be committed to their life tasks with no reservations, no retreats, no regrets.
This is true for all Christians, but is especially important to remember when disability enters our families. More on this later. The needs of grandchildren and their parents help define the grandparent’s role. Grandchildren are royal blessings. Proverbs 17:6 tells us, Children’s children are a crown to the aged.
But what if your crown is not what you expected? What if your grandchild has a disability? This mini-book offers grandparents their honored place as kings and queens in their families. If the Lord has blessed you with a grandchild who has a disability, then roll up your sleeves and get ready to polish that precious and beautiful crown! Parenting a child with a disability can be a blessing. Grandparenting a child with a disability can be a delight! As the parent of a thirty-year old young lady who is blessed by two sets of godly grandparents, I have discovered that grandparents can make a crucial difference. Let me explain what I have learned from Scripture and from how my daughter’s grandparents illustrate its principles.
And that’s exactly what Dave Deuel does in HELP! My Grandchild Has a Disability, from Shepherd Press, in partnership with Joni & Friends. Here’s the Table of Contents.
- What Is a Biblical Grandparent?
- What Should Biblical Grandparents Do?
- What Should Biblical Grandparents Not Do?
- How Can Biblical Grandparents Prepare for the Future?
Dave Deuel, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow – Policy and Publications, the Christian Institute at Joni and Friends, and Academic Dean Emeritus, the Master’s Academy International. In addition to serving in seminary and pastoral ministry he also serves in advisory and policy roles for disability organizations including the State Council on Disability for California.
[This post is excerpted from Dave’s mini-book.]
