Still a Beautiful Day
- michaelarichard6
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Alex recently stated something that stopped me in my tracks.
"When are we going to get to the point where we stop thinking autism is a bad thing?
Why are we so scared? When are we going to get to the point where we don't care what other people think?"
Our family's journey has been one of unexpected turns.
After experiencing our oldest son's journey with hearing loss, cochlear implants, and an autism diagnosis, we eventually received another diagnosis: our youngest, Micah, was also diagnosed with autism.
If you had told me years ago that this would be part of our story,
I probably would have been terrified.
Today, despite the ongoing challenges,
I came to a realization that Autism isn't the enemy.
Fear is.
Comparison is.
Living for other people's approval is.
There is no rule book for autism.
It's called a spectrum for a reason.
Every child is different.
Every family walks a different road.
What works for one may not work for another, and that's okay.
We're all learning as we go.
One of the greatest lessons God has taught me is that my children don't need to fit the world's expectations to have incredible purpose.
They were fearfully and wonderfully made exactly as they are,
and their diagnoses do not define the value God placed on their lives.
I am also reminded that eleven years ago today,
we launched Faith In Action.
We didn't have everything figured out.
We didn't have endless resources.
We simply had Faith.
Over the last eleven years we have experienced victories that only God could orchestrate, seasons where the business flourished, and seasons where we wondered how we'd make it to the next month.
We've celebrated clients reaching goals they never thought would be possible.
We've walked through disappointments.
We've questioned ourselves.
We've started over more than once.
But through every high and every low one thing has remained true and,
that is that God has been faithful.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Reflecting on the past, I understand that God was not merely creating a business.
He was shaping us and assembling the right team for the task.
The perfect parents for our children to thrive.
He was teaching perseverance, humility, patience, compassion, and dependence on Him.
Sometimes He blesses through abundance and, sometimes He blesses through the lessons that only hardship can teach.
Both are gifts.
Every morning, when I'm driving the kids to school (or, summer camp at this time of year)
I usually say:"If the sun is shining, it's going to be a beautiful day!"
One morning, it was pouring rain and my daughter looked at me and proceeded to ask
"Mommy... is it still a beautiful day?"
I smiled because she had unknowingly asked one of life's greatest questions.
Is it still a beautiful day when life doesn't look the way we hoped?
When the diagnosis comes?
When the business slows down?
When finances are tight?
When prayers seem unanswered?
When we're exhausted?
The answer is yes.
Not because everything is easy and, not because every circumstance feels good.
God's goodness isn't determined by the weather outside or the season we're walking through.
A beautiful day isn't defined by sunshine.
It's defined by His presence.
The rain doesn't mean He's absent.
Sometimes the rain is exactly where He grows our faith.
What I've learned from our family's experiences is this:
Life can be beautiful even without sunshine and, peace can exist even without certainty.
Most importantly, purpose can be found even without perfection.
Autism doesn't diminish the value of a child created in the image of God.
Our sons don't have to change who they are to deserve love.
They already are loved.
The world may not always understand them.
But God does.
Completely.
As we celebrate eleven years of serving others through Faith In Action,
I'm reminded that our greatest accomplishment isn't the business we've built.
It's the Faith God has built within us.
Eleven years ago, I thought success would be measured by clients,
milestones, growth, and goals.
Today, I understand that success appears differently.
It means continuing to choose Faith even when Fear is overwhelming.
It looks like loving our children exactly as God created them.
It looks like trusting Him when the future doesn't make sense.
It looks like finding beauty on the rainy days.
I don't know what tomorrow holds for our family.
There may be more questions than answers.
More unexpected turns.
More seasons that stretch us in ways we never imagined.
But I do know this... The same God who was faithful when we opened our business eleven years ago is the same God who was faithful through hearing loss, cochlear implants, autism diagnoses, sleepless nights, answered prayers, and the countless moments in between.
He has never left.
And He never will.
So yes, even when the skies are grey...
Even when life doesn't go according to plan...
Even when the diagnosis changes everything...
It is still a beautiful day.
Because our hope has never been in perfect circumstances.
Our hope has always been in a perfect Savior.
He is faithful in every season.
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