The Lame Shall Walk

It has been a looooong month. That is for sure. It isn't at all the month I expected it to be, and sometimes I still get angry about that. My thoughts started spinning this morning (again) as I read 2 Timothy 2:23  "Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels."  Well, I have embroiled myself in way too many foolish and stupid arguments this month; it's embarrassing to even think about. It's way too easy to get tied up in knots when I think about the things I perceive as unjust, unkind or just plain petty.
God has really been helping me to not focus on these disappointments by remembering why I came here to begin with. It wasn't for an organization, to make other people happy or to get a lot of pats on the back; it was for the kids, THESE kids, only the kids. I felt so strongly that this is where I needed to be and that this is where we should come. This has been a real comfort to me over the last weeks of stress and "stupid arguments". So today when my thoughts threatened to spiral down into frustration, God reminded me of what He has accomplished through us coming here, and my thoughts turned to one very special little boy. Wei Tao. Wei Tao has probably taught me more about the difference that one person can make than any child ever will. Wei Tao who is blind, partially deaf, with severe cognitive impairments and extremely low muscle tone. When I arrived here in December, 2008, Wei Tao was 9 months old and his life consisted of not much more than lying like a lump on the floor. I didn't need to understand any Chinese to understand the staff when they tried to tell me that he wasn't worth picking up, there was "no one home". Wei Tao seemed most content when left alone to sleep all day, and so that's what happened; he was left alone. 

Together Wei Tao and I made those ayis eat their words as they saw his first smile, heard his first laugh and saw this lifeless lump hug me and pat my back. When Wei Tao was three he learned how to feed himself and now at five years old....WEI TAO CAN WALK!!

Not your typical success story, but his is the only success story I will ever need. Wei Tao reminds me that I came here because God had some work to be done, and I was crazy enough to give it a try, not to listen to people who said it couldn't be done, not for praise or rewards, and certainly not to engage in stupid arguments. But I'll take a pat on the back from Wei Tao any day.