Consider the statistics from our one son’s life: Ten major surgeries over the course of fifteen long years.

Admittedly, this is sometimes a very strange existence. Recently, my son said he was wondering if all this is a test or just a random and unfortunate cruel act of life. Is this part of God’s greater plan?

His tenth surgery was to fix what went wrong with surgery number nine. This set him back an entire year, causing him to have to work extra hard to just get back on his feet.

He said he is trying to not be angry, but it seems to me that he has very good reasons to struggle with these types of emotion. Of course, a lot of his anger is masked as fear: fear of how the new surgery will go and the worry that it won’t go as planned.

To those on the outside looking in, this may seem overwhelming: All of the surgeries and all of the hospitals. Things going wrong and things going right – very often at the same time

My son’s first surgery was at one year of age. Taking your baby to the hospital for surgery is scary and not something you ever want to do. And if you had talked to me fourteen years ago, I would probably have admitted feeling overwhelmed.

There was a sense of total loss and the fear of the unknown. When we received the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, I couldn’t comprehend any of it. How were we going to make it? I felt numb. What was going to happen to our child? What was our life going to look like?

To those of you who have just received a similarly difficult diagnosis or are struggling to find out what is wrong, please allow me to offer you a word of comfort.

You will make it! Not without bumps and bruises but it will get easier. Your family will eventually will find its groove again. For now, though, give yourself a break. You are in unknown territory and that means lots of questions might initially go unanswered.

In even “normal” circumstances, life can be messy. For now, yours is a little more messy than most. And for a season you might feel lost and even overwhelmed. But you can do this.

I could never have imagined fifteen years ago that I would now feel as I do. But it is true.

Would I rather have struggled with seemingly simpler problems? Sure. But the facts are the facts and we can now look back and say it was not as bad as we feared it would be. We’re making it. Our children are growing up and we are now able to catch our breath and give thanks to God. All of our children are a blessing. Each and everyone.

So hang in there. You will make it. We are praying and pulling for you.