{"id":311,"date":"2010-07-28T08:49:37","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T08:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/i-never-thought-id.html"},"modified":"2010-07-28T08:49:37","modified_gmt":"2010-07-28T08:49:37","slug":"i-never-thought-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/i-never-thought-id.html","title":{"rendered":"I Never Thought I’d…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hands<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Real Simple magazine is running an essay contest<\/a> where entrants are invited to finish this sentence: “I never thought I’d…” Perhaps I’ll submit an entry about having a daughter with Down syndrome. We’ll see. But I’m pretty sure that what I’m about to write here wouldn’t win. While it’s true that I never thought I’d have a daughter with Down syndrome, I also never thought I’d have kids who praise Jesus by raising their hands and swaying in the aisles at church. <\/p>\n

We’ve been attending a small, informal church this summer.
\nIt meets in a community center. The sermons are loose. Sometimes the pastor
\npreaches. Sometimes he tells stories. Sometimes other people share thoughts and
\nexperiences and prayers–requests, answers. Penny and William come to the
\nbeginning and the end, and both of them would tell you, “I like the singing
\npart.”<\/p>\n

Peter and I like it too. We like the actual music. But what
\nwe like even more is the experience of our children in worship. For regular
\nreaders of this blog, and for anyone who knows us in person, it will come as no
\nsurprise that Peter and I tend to be, shall we say–reserved–when it comes to
\nexpressing ourselves. We’re kneel-in-the-pews and hold-the-hymnal types. <\/p>\n

Now don’t get me wrong. I believe our bodies are meant to
\nassist us in prayer and in worship, whether that’s by holding our hands in the
\nair, kneeling in a posture of humility, or swaying and clapping with joy. I’m
\njust not very comfortable doing it. <\/p>\n

But our children are an entirely different story. On a
\ntypical Sunday, William will be standing on a chair, alternating between
\nsaying, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” and strumming an air guitar in solidarity with the
\nlady up front. Penny is usually a little farther afield, often in the middle of
\nthe aisle. Her whole body sways back and forth, both hands raised, sometimes
\nclapping, and often mouthing the words, “Praise Jesus.” <\/p>\n

They aren’t performing. They aren’t self-conscious. They’re
\njust using their whole selves to enter into the experience of proclaiming God
\nas the one who made us and cares for us and is worthy of our praise. <\/p>\n

I never thought we’d have children like this. But I’m
\ngrateful that we do. <\/p>\n

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

Real Simple magazine is running an essay contest where entrants are invited to finish this sentence: “I never thought I’d…” Perhaps I’ll submit an entry about having a daughter with Down syndrome. We’ll see. But I’m pretty sure that what I’m about to write here wouldn’t win. While it’s true that I never thought I’d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nI Never Thought I'd... - Thin Places<\/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\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/i-never-thought-id.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Never Thought I'd... - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Real Simple magazine is running an essay contest where entrants are invited to finish this sentence: “I never thought I’d…” Perhaps I’ll submit an entry about having a daughter with Down syndrome. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}