{"id":2651,"date":"2012-05-31T18:16:06","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T22:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2651"},"modified":"2012-05-31T18:16:06","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T22:16:06","slug":"surprised-by-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/05\/surprised-by-joy.html","title":{"rendered":"Surprised by joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It is difficult to understand how much God loves us. \u00a0While few of us will admit it, much of our lives is spent waiting for God to slam the judgment hammer into our skulls. \u00a0Working within the mentally challenged community, I’ve come to understand a bit about unconditional love. \u00a0I am area director of Special Gathering, a ministry to people whose IQ’s are lower than “normal.” \u00a0Our mission is evangelism and discipleship of the wonderful community the Lord has given to us.<\/p>\n

Please understand. \u00a0People who are intellectually disabled are not immune to sin. \u00a0Bad behavior is as common within our community as any other gathering of human beings. Yet, there is a common strain that runs within every part of our cloistered sub-culture. \u00a0That is unconditional love.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wendy knew that I was angry with her because she had deliberately disobeyed the rules at camp this past weekend. \u00a0We let it slip the first three or four times; but by the fifth offense, I confronted her regarding her inappropriate behavior. \u00a0My voice was stern, firm and steady when I explained that she would no longer be welcomed at camp if her behaviors continued.<\/p>\n

Wendy’s head reaches almost to my lower chest. \u00a0She looked at me with wide eyes. \u00a0“I love you, Linda Howard. \u00a0I so sorry,” she said with her eyes welling up with tears. \u00a0“Will you forgive me? \u00a0I love you, Linda Howard.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>She grabbed me around the waist and repeated, “I love you, Linda Howard.”<\/p>\n

Understand, her emotional outburst didn’t loosen my resolve to enforce the camp rules. \u00a0She was obviously wanting me to know that she loved me even though I had told her that she might miss coming to camp. I could not help but appreciate her unconditional love.<\/p>\n

Once again, I was surprised by the joyful spirit Wendy extended to me. \u00a0 Sure, many of our members are depressed. \u00a0Some of them are even depressing. \u00a0However, the over arching surprise package is their joy.<\/p>\n

Learning from them has become an easy pill to swallow, especially when I am again and again surprised by joy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is difficult to understand how much God loves us. \u00a0While few of us will admit it, much of our lives is spent waiting for God to slam the judgment hammer into our skulls. \u00a0Working within the mentally challenged community, I’ve come to understand a bit about unconditional love. \u00a0I am area director of Special…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,37,5,20,3,40,186,49,10,16,8,1],"tags":[690,21,688,7,715,701,13,389,6,700,390],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-camp-agape","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-inspirational","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-joy","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality","tag-surprises"],"yoast_head":"\nSurprised by joy - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/05\/surprised-by-joy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprised by joy - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is difficult to understand how much God loves us. \u00a0While few of us will admit it, much of our lives is spent waiting for God to slam the judgment hammer into our skulls. \u00a0Working within the mentally challenged community, I’ve come to understand a bit about unconditional love. \u00a0I am area director of Special…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/05\/surprised-by-joy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-31T22:16:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/05\/Hammer1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Surprised by joy - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/05\/surprised-by-joy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Surprised by joy - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"It is difficult to understand how much God loves us. \u00a0While few of us will admit it, much of our lives is spent waiting for God to slam the judgment hammer into our skulls. \u00a0Working within the mentally challenged community, I’ve come to understand a bit about unconditional love. \u00a0I am area director of Special…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/05\/surprised-by-joy.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2012-05-31T22:16:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/05\/Hammer1.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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