Happy New Year! Let's Get to Work!

I can't believe January is here (and halfway over with). The older I get the faster time seems to move. I have been busily preparing and beginning my newest adventure in student teaching and I absolutely love it! This is definitely the direction in which God has pointed my feet. He keeps pushing me and leading me forward into what I believe to be the unknown, but my God has this all planned out. Every. Single. Step. Of. The. Way.

So here's what has been on my heart lately.

I have been working with students/adults with special needs for a few years now and I know that our systems in this country look to serve the needs of these individuals. I have also visited and researched places where our children and adults with disabilities and special needs are not treated as well. They are locked away from society, punished in institutions, neglected and left without care, left to die in the hands of a government-run facility that has no rules regarding treatment and individuals are at the mercy of their "caregivers." 

It is heart-wrenching to think that a child is severely punished for something he or she cannot change nor had any say in what life has dealt them. I want to share a more meaningful perspective to the world. Show others that those with special needs are not less nor are they different. (That different not less line aggravates me). They already know they are different. They can tell from the stares, pointing, whispers, hate comments on social media. There's no need to continue singling them out. What society does not see or always understand is the fact that these individuals who may require different needs are no less human than any of us. They enjoy the same things we do, like music and laughter. They find great joy in human contact, love, interaction. A warm smile or a gentle touch can go for miles to someone with special needs. It is because we can show compassion that we can make this world a more beautiful place.

Help me show love and compassion to those society continues to single out, label as imperfections or blemishes to our culture. It takes one person to make a difference, but imagine the impact that two people could make. Three people? A hundred people? 

How will YOU help to break down the social barriers of isolation and bullying of those with special needs? 

How can YOU help make a difference? 


The world needs LEADERS. 
From THIS GENERATION. 
Who can RISE UP TO THE OCCASION. 
Leaders who can ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUES. 
And come up with a
SOLUTION. 

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." - I Timothy 4:12 (NIV)