I work with students with special needs on a daily basis. All of them are intellectually disabled, most of them have multiple sensory impairments, and some of them have incurable medical conditions and behavioural issues which can harm others or self-harm.

Since beginning this journey as a special needs teacher, it has given me the opportunity to peek into the heart of God and learn of His wonderful mercy. I see so many similarities of myself in these kids! They may have a brokenness in their intellectual capacity, but I have a brokenness of sin at the core of my being that grieves God.

When I clothe them after a mental breakdown which causes them to strip, I am reminded of how God clothes my shame through Christ. When I know that they head butt you and kick you because they are trying to communicate that they don’t like something; I am reminded of how God knows my needs more than I do.

When I see myself run out of patience and the strength to be sacrificial, I see how God, in Jesus, extends His mercy in His display of unending patience, gentleness and tenderness towards a wretched sinner like me.
Teaching humbles me. I hope that God keeps my eyes open to see the glimpses of His beautiful heart and character.