GOSPEL GRACE Is This It? B Y A N I TA S E T R A N I wonder what I am going to be when I grow up. Did you ever think or say this when you were young? Or maybe, like me, you have continued to say it year after year, through your teens, twenties, thirties, forties, and now, for me, knocking on fifty’s door. Jesus has always been the center of my world. At the age of 16, I dedicated my life to full-time ministry and have now served in full-time missions for 24 years. I brought up my children in full-time ministry. Very similar to how I was raised. I’ve had the privilege of leading young men and women, training and sending people on outreach missions, and investing in new ministries. I am grateful for the life I’ve lived, and yet through it all, I still found myself thinking, I wonder what I am going to be when I grow up. So, I prayed, God, have your way in my life. It’s not that I haven’t lived a full life. I got married at 20 to my best friend, and we will celebrate our 30th anniversary in September. We have three beautiful children. Our eldest son is now married to a beautiful, Christian young lady. Our middle daughter has just graduated from college, making the Dean’s List every semester. And our youngest daughter, Kiersten, is our very special gift that we get to keep forever! Our precious baby girl just turned 18, and she has Down Syndrome. In the depths of my heart, I always knew, yet also feared, that I would have a child with special needs. You see, I had three precious uncles who each had special needs and learning disabilities. They were not diagnosed during their childhood, but it was evident that they were different. However, they were special. And they were mine. They loved me unconditionally, and I loved them. I knew that my childhood years of living near them, caring for them, and protecting them had prepared me for this divine task of special needs motherhood. Kiersten needed open-heart surgery at nine weeks old to repair a very large hole in her heart. Just days after the surgery, while still in the hospital, she split open her sternum bone due to severe vomiting requiring a second surgery to open her chest and repair the sternum. In the months to come, her heart healed perfectly. Over the next eight years, however, Kiersten would require seven additional surgeries for her hearing and other needs. It felt like the doctor appointments, lab work, and hospital visits would never end. Eventually, however, things settled down, and life continued. I wondered, Is this it? Is this my calling, my purpose?? We prayed, God’s will be done.
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