Parenting a Child with Special Needs
Parenting a child with special needs can be a journey filled with deep love, unexpected challenges, and constant adaptation. What may begin with a diagnosis, developmental concern, or simply a sense that something is different can lead to a path that looks very different from what was once imagined. Along the way, parents often navigate complex systems, advocate fiercely for their child, and carry both the joys and the weight of responsibility. It can impact relationships, emotional well-being, daily rhythms, and faith. Many find themselves holding questions like: Am I doing enough? How do I best support my child? Who supports me in this?
In this Parenting a Child with Special Needs Pathway, you’ll hear from parents and caregivers who are walking this road. They share honestly about the realities of caregiving, advocacy, exhaustion, resilience, and the moments of beauty and connection that are often found in unexpected places. While the journey may not follow a clear or predictable path, strength, support, and hope can grow over time. This pathway is designed to remind you that in both the challenges and the victories, you are not alone—and your story, and your child’s, are filled with purpose and possibility.
Podcast Episodes:
What does the gospel speak into our suffering? How can the Bible anchor us with hope in our deepest pain?
Author and co-founder of She Reads Truth, Amanda Bible Williams has helped countless people understand the importance of Scripture in their everyday lives. But it was through her own journey—adoption and raising a medically fragile child—that God’s Word became even more personal and powerful. As she parents her son Toby, who has faced significant medical challenges due to congenital heart issues, and as she has walked through other profound losses, Amanda has returned again and again to God and His Word to find the strength and hope she needs to keep moving forward. Her latest book, The Bible Is for You: A Devotional Journey Through Every Book of the Bible, co-written with She Reads Truth co-founder Raechel Myers, guides readers through every book of Scripture and reveals the unchanging truth that transcends our circumstances.
In this honest conversation, Davey and Amanda discuss the unique challenges parents of medically fragile children face, how to encounter God in the midst of suffering, and why the Bible is essential when we find ourselves in life’s valleys.
If you’ve struggled to read the Bible—especially in seasons of difficulty or pain—this episode invites you to discover the comfort and steady hope that await when you immerse yourself in the timeless truths of Scripture.
How do we model the way God brings each of us into His family? How can we faithfully support families who choose to grow their families through fostering or adoption?
For Pastor Andrew Hopper, adopting a child with special needs has opened his eyes to a deeper understanding of what it means for each of us to be adopted into the family of God. Through navigating complex medical needs, the pain often associated with adoption, and the work of shaping a church culture that actively supports adoptive and foster families, Andrew has seen firsthand how God reveals the gospel through adoption and foster care. In his book, Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His, he offers a practical and compelling framework for how churches can become places of genuine care and support for families who foster or adopt.
In this conversation, Davey and Andrew explore what it looks like to give our children what they truly need—even when it doesn’t align with our expectations, the unique challenges of parenting a child with medical needs, and how the church can learn to be “rope holders”: people who provide meaningful, practical support to those walking the road of adoption and foster care.
If your family has been built through adoption or fostering, or if you want to learn how to better care for a family that has, this episode offers practical insight into embracing adoption and foster care as acts of faith, mission, and ministry.
How do you navigate the inevitable storms of life? What does it truly look like to grieve the life you once envisioned?
Josh Turner is no stranger to life’s storms. From parenting a daughter with special needs—whose diagnosis didn’t come until she was 12 years old—to enduring a painful betrayal at the church where he served as a pastor, Josh has weathered more than his fair share of hardship. Through these experiences, he began to recognize a critical need: a pathway to help pastors and leaders endure their own storms without reaching the point of burnout or moral failure.
This realization led to the founding of the 10 Ten Project, a ministry dedicated to equipping pastors and leaders with the tools they need to lead well through adversity. Josh also shares his powerful personal journey in his latest book, Into the Storm: How to Face Down Any Crisis with Deep, Unshakable Faith.
In this episode, Davey and Josh explore how suffering can deepen our faith, the unique challenges of raising a child with special needs and how it can effect a marriage, and what leaders need to sustain their calling in the face of crisis.
If you're walking through a storm right now, this conversation is a timely reminder: no matter what you’re facing, it’s possible to enter the storm with a deep, unshakable faith.
What do you do when life leaves you desperate for hope? How do you find redemption when all you see is brokenness?
Angie Howell knows these questions all too well. On the verge of her third divorce and pregnant with her eighth child, Angie found herself in a place of deep pain and loss. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Jade, Angie sensed something was wrong. What followed was a long and difficult journey of medical tests and diagnoses, leading her into the complex world of parenting a child with special needs.
In the midst of uncertainty and while still a lukewarm Christian, Angie encountered an unexpected moment of divine intervention. Her cousin, along with his biker friends, came to pray over her and Jade. In that powerful moment, something inside Angie shifted—she experienced a miracle not in her circumstances, but in her heart. It was the beginning of a profound transformation.
Angie shares her story of struggle, faith, and redemption in her book, Jewel of Heaven: A Beautiful Story of Brokenness, Redemption, and the Power of a Biker’s Prayer. She calls herself a misfit, and through her writing, she vulnerably reveals how an unconventional group of believers helped her find hope and healing.
In this episode, Davey sits down with Angie to talk about how the true miracle in our lives is often the change God brings to our hearts through pain, how He uses unlikely people to speak life and hope into us, and why our stories are never meant for us alone—they’re meant to bring healing to others too.
If you've ever felt too broken for redemption, this conversation will remind you: no matter how far gone you feel, God is relentlessly pursuing you—even in your brokenness.
How do you even begin to talk to God when life is unfolding in ways you never wanted? What can prayer do when the pain feels unbearably raw and deep?
For Rachel Wojo, these questions became deeply personal. She never could have imagined the depth of suffering she would walk through—navigating her daughter’s terminal diagnosis and eventual passing, enduring betrayal in a first marriage that ended in divorce, and losing her mother in her twenties and her father while writing her book, Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments. Pain came from every direction. And yet, in her desperation, Rachel discovered strength through raw, honest conversations with God.
In this episode, Davey and Rachel talk about the wrestlings that come with a difficult diagnosis, the vital role of prayer in our darkest seasons, and how remembering God's past faithfulness can help us move forward through grief and heartbreak.
If you’ve ever struggled to find the words to say to God in your most desperate moments, this conversation will remind you that you don’t need perfect prayers—just an honest heart willing to keep reaching for Him, even in the pain.
How do we begin to help young children understand loss? What can we do to help little ones grieve while we are walking through it alongside them?
For author, speaker, and podcaster Annie F. Downs, these questions became real when her infant nephew, TJ, passed away from a severe medical condition less than two months after he was born. Wanting to help her sister, Tatum Green, and her young son, Sam, process through this loss, Annie did what she was uniquely gifted to do. She wrote Sam a book to help him as he tried to grasp the loss of his little brother. Once it was written, Annie and Tatum knew that this book needed to be offered to other families beyond theirs who were trying to figure out through how to walk young kids through unimaginable losses and so together, they created the final version, “Where did TJ Go? A Book for Kids on Grief and Loss”. In it, they help children ask the hard questions that can come when they lose someone they love and find hope through the Gospel.
In this honest conversation, Davey sits with Annie and Tatum to talk about how a loss impacts a whole family, the best ways we can show up for those we love in their grief, and what we learn about the mystery of God through the rawness of our struggles and questions.
If you or someone you love is trying to navigate how to guide a young child through loss, this episode will encourage you that while it can be hard and difficult, simply giving kids the space to ask tough questions and talk about what they are feeling is the first step in walking them through the pain of grief and finding hope along the way.
How do we help our kids navigate the most difficult parts of life? What role does connection play in making sure that we are who our kids come to when they are facing hard things?
Amy Betters-Midtvedt knows how hard it can be to help kids through the tough stuff. As a parent of five and an educator, Amy has worked with kids and adolescents for over twenty-five years and has seen the pain, the struggles, and the triumphs that kids and teens go through as they grow up. Navigating her own children's difficulties like mental health issues and an eating disorder taught her what kids need most from us as adults: connection and relationship. In her book, You’ll Make It (and they will too): Everything No One Talks About When You’re Parenting Teens, she shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about raising teens, especially with the challenges that can come in the digital age.
In this conversation, Aubrey and Amy talk about how to give teens what they need, the ways we can help kids navigate this digital world, and why it is important to learn the art of letting go.
If you are raising a teenager or love one, this episode will give you permission to take a deep breath and focus on what matters the most when it comes to helping kids grow and flourish.
How do we navigate those questions we have in the middle of our struggles? How can we hold onto our faith when doubt seems to want to unravel what we know to be true?
For author and podcaster Laura Wifler, walking through a season of doubt in the middle of life's challenges wasn't something she anticipated. As someone who spent much of her time encouraging other women on her well-known podcast and through her book by the same name, Risen Motherhood, to cling to Jesus in their lives, she never imagined to find herself wrestling with uncertainty in her own faith. And yet through that season and through parenting a child with special needs, Laura found God reveal Himself to her more and more. Learning to cling to her faith when it felt impossible was a lesson that continues to carry her through the lingering questions and challenges she is experiencing. She also found that her vulnerability in sharing where she was in her journey with Jesus gave others permission to do the same.
In this episode, Eric talks with Laura about what the gospel offers in parenting a child with special needs, how to find hope in our pain, and what it looks like to cling to faith in our doubts.
If you or someone you know have found themselves in a season where there seems to be more questions than answers, this conversation is an invitation to ask God what is on your mind and know that there is no question or struggle with doubt that can keep you from His love.
What do we do when we find ourselves in the middle of a medical crisis with our kids? How do we learn to trust God with our most precious gifts, our children?
For author Jessika Sanders, learning to surrender and trust the Lord was a journey after she found herself in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was through that experience that she began to not only pray for her own child, but the countless others that she met while attending to her son's medical condition. As she saw the need for support and care for those in the NICU and PICU, she felt led to begin a ministry for parents who find themselves in the stress and uncertainty of a medical crisis. Her ministry, Praying Through, offers practical support and encouragement for families journeying through the NICU, PICU, and child loss. Her upcoming book co-authored with Eric Schumacher, In His Hands: Prayers for your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis, helps parents with specific prayers to pray when the words may be hard to find.
In this conversation with Eric, Jessika shares how God often will prepare us in advance for the valleys we will walk through, the importance of surrendering to the Lord in a crisis, and ways that anyone can help a family facing a difficult medical journey.
If you or someone you know is a parent in the midst of a life altering medical diagnosis of their child, this episode will be a balm of hope in helping you remember that when everything feels completely out of your control, the Lord is inviting you to just be still and trust Him in the unknown.
How do we begin to experience the strength of God in the middle of our weaknesses? How can we allow the Creator of all to enter into our greatest place of need?
For author and podcaster Emily Jensen, walking through her son's medical challenges revealed weaknesses in her spirit that were unlike any she had faced before. The missed milestones, the extensive plans for intervention, and her own grief in the midst of it all revealed to her a need for God's strength where she felt the weakest. It was learning to navigate the waters of parenting a child with special needs that led her to a greater reliance on the Heavenly Father's power in her life. Through co-hosting the Risen Motherhood podcast and her recent book, He is Strong: Devotions for When You Feel Weak, Emily explores what it looks like to truly lean into the supernatural strength we all need when it comes to all the ways we experience brokenness this side of heaven.
In this honest conversation, Eric sits down with Emily to talk about the different kinds of weaknesses we can face, the challenges of parenting a child with special needs and how the gospel applies to all of our weaknesses.
If you've ever found yourself at the end of your own strength, this episode will serve as an encouragement that it is in that place that God's power is most magnified in your life.
What happens when the excitement of a pregnancy comes to a screeching halt with the words you never expected to hear: Down syndrome?
For many parents, it can feel like a life sentence of fear and unknowns. What started out as a grief over the life Misty Snyder was expecting to have with her second-born child, ended up to be one of her greatest gifts.
While she wrestled through the anxieties and mourned the expectations of what she thought motherhood of two would be like, Misty has found a richer, more fuller life than she could have ever imagined. She has taken her pain and turned it into a vibrant, encouraging community called Happiness is Down Syndrome to support other parents grappling with the challenges and joys that come with loving a child with Down syndrome.
Join Davey and Misty as they talk about what to do when life takes an unexpected turn and how to find happiness in the midst of it. Whether you are a parent of a child with special needs or just know one, this episode will help you see the good in the hardest moments of life.
Masterclasses:
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Parenting is hard no matter what the circumstances. How do you navigate the challenges when parenting a child with a disability?
Misty Snyder knows so intimately the shock and fear that can come when discovering your child has a disability. In 2020, she received the unexpected news that her son, Jedidiah, had Down syndrome. In her pain and feelings of isolation, she began to seek a community that could understand and journey with her through the challenges and subsequent joys of raising a child who had different needs.
In this masterclass, Parenting a Child with a Disability: Hope in the Challenges, Misty will teach you:
How to remember God’s purposes for your child’s life
The importance of finding a community to journey alongside
Ways to stay present in parenting your unique child
If you are parenting a child with a disability, this masterclass will encourage you towards hope on your parenting journey.
Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happinessisdownsyndrome/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Happiness-is-Down-Syndrome-100068296297329/
Misty Snyder Nothing is Wasted Episode: https://www.nothingiswasted.com/podcast1/episode-214
Easter Seals: https://www.easterseals.com/
Amy Julia Baker: https://amyjuliabecker.com/
Hope Heals: https://hopeheals.com/
Joni and Friends: https://joniandfriends.org/
Bonus Episodes:
Live Events:
Pain to Purpose Coaching
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Have you found this Pathway helpful? Be sure to check out our other Pathways for more inspiring stories of hope in the face of tragedy, trauma and pain.
Let these Pathways be a roadmap for you on your healing journey.
How do you learn to embrace a story you never would have chosen for yourself? What does it look like to find hope in places where healing feels impossible?
Author and speaker Katherine Wolf was living an ordinary life with her newborn son and husband in law school when in 2008, at just 26 years old, a massive stroke changed everything. In an instant, she went from being fully independent to facing a long and difficult road of recovery, one that would require help with even the simplest daily tasks. Years later, Katherine continues to navigate significant physical challenges. Yet through her books, speaking, and the ministry she co-founded, Hope Heals, she has become a beacon of encouragement for countless individuals and families living with disability, chronic illness, and unexpected hardship. Katherine knows firsthand the pain of having life change in an instant, and she has discovered what it means to embrace the story God is writing—even when it looks nothing like the one she imagined.
In this episode, Davey and Katherine discuss what it means to flourish in a life marked by pain, why radical acceptance of your story can become the doorway to hope, and how the Church can better come alongside families caring for loved ones with disabilities and complex medical needs.
If you've ever struggled to find hope in the midst of disappointment, suffering, or circumstances you never would have chosen, this conversation will remind you that hope is not merely a feeling—it is a practice, one that can be cultivated no matter what story you find yourself living.