If God Calls You - You Can Do It.

Two blogs in a day! Wow!

But this is the blog I actually intended to write today. It fits with the previous one…. sort of.

This one comes out of a Facebook update I wrote, and the many comments I received after posting it. You can see it here.

The actual update read: 

“A lady at church said because of my disability, I should retire & stop running around the country... 

#SillyLady #Only49 #FitForWork #LoveMyJob #VeryCrossKay

Let me expand a little: This was the second time the comment had been made. It was made to my mum, and the full comment started with words to the effect of “It’s ridiculous that she…..”

One of my friends on Facebook was very gracious in saying maybe the lady concerned had my best interests at heart.

That’s possible - but quite unlikely.

I don’t often make comments like this public just because I get so many (although rarely from my lovely church family), but my reason for doing so this time was to try and stop others who have heard this agreeing with it. My Facebook friends helped me with this - and made me laugh a lot in the process!

But the thought behind this comment disturbs me on many levels.

The first is practical - the fact that I can’t retire yet, and would be deemed fit to work (which I am), and therefore have to live on benefits meant for disabled people who can’t find work. Not a good plan.

The next is - I love my job, and without being big headed, I think I do it well! Why should I retire?

Thanks to some of the help available to me as a disabled person, I can get to my job, do my job, and love my job. The only downside is when society and buildings make things harder than they should be - and that’s not my fault. Why should I give up because some of the world (Especially London) is not accessible to me?

But there is another reason I’m disturbed - for the sake of the children I serve.

I don’t want the children I serve to think they can’t follow their calling because someone says a disability means they shouldn’t.

I want to be a positive role model showing children that if God calls you to do something - you can do it, regardless of ability. 

Nuff said!