God Has a Plan for You - by Chrissi Baldridge

God has a plan. We were never promised this life would be easy and man if it does not seem if some of us get the extra helping of difficulties. I have sure felt overwhelmed with it all at times. One thing I have always firmly believed though, a life motto if you will, is that for anything we go through, God has a plan and it shows our true character on how we handle the hardships.

Since dyslexia was prevalent in both sides of our family, we always knew to be on the lookout for it. We discovered our oldest daughter had it when she was in kindergarten. It took us 2 years of fighting the system, but we were finally able to get an IEP. I have 3 children now with IEPs.

Then 2 ½ years ago, our world was rocked, when at age 10, our oldest daughter was diagnosed with Turner syndrome (TS). At the beginning, we were terrified. There were a load of doctors’ appointments, tests, research, and information. I broke out the trusty laptop, printer, and highlighter, and this accountant learned all about TS. Thankfully, my mom is an amazing nurse who could explain it all to me.

The diagnosis explained so much, though. All these random things our daughter had like dyslexia, reoccurring ear infections, and being short suddenly made sense. We just never knew how to put them together like that. Those first few months there were a lot of tears, fear, and hard conversations. Even though we had amazing family support, much of the time we felt so alone.

The problem is that when your child has a rare disorder there are not many people you can relate to that are in the same boat as you. It was overwhelming. My husband David and I sat our daughter down and explained what was going on. I have always believed that God has a plan for us and during one of those conversations I said it off-handedly. Our girl took that idea and has run full steam ahead with it!

God is using this girl in such amazing ways to help other girls know they are not alone. No one at her school knew about TS; well, she taught a class on it. She won a Youth Advocate of the Year award last year and used that platform to talk about TS. It bothered her that her daily growth hormone injections cost so much a month, so she started doing lemonade stands and sewing potholders to raise money. To date she has raised over $1,600 for TS research and she is still going strong.

I think life mottos are something we take for granted sometimes. We fully believe in them and if you ask, we will help. If you ask me what to do to get an IEP, I will give you enough information to fill a novel on it. How many of us actually go forth and do them without being asked?

God used a pint-sized red head with a highly complex genetic disorder to teach me that lesson. She taught me to reach out to another mom struggling with a new diagnosis. She taught me to show kindness and help kids that do not have things that easy. Maybe in the grand scheme of things it’s not much, but I can guarantee that to that mom it means the world to have someone who understands. To understand how our lives don’t always revolve around kids’ ballgames, dance and plays, but doctor’s appointments, tests, hours of homework, research, and stress. Life is not always easy, but just take a look into that loved one’s eyes and you realize again and again that it’s totally worth it. Be a change, God does have a plan for you.