But in a way, your story is a pretty literal example of redemptive suffering.

You know, I’ve never thought of it that way, but that’s absolutely correct.

So many families in similar situations allow their challenges to pull them away from the Church, as they blame God for their suffering. My wife and I tried to find ways to allow God to change us into better people. I can’t say we’ve always succeeded, but we’re still together, while the vast majority (well over 75%) of marriages like ours (facing serious disability) end in divorce – not good!

From our occasional conversations on forums and in email, I knew about your children, but I never knew it was the sufferings of their disabilities that brought you to the Church. Thank you for sharing this.

When people talk about the redeeming effects of suffering, usually they’re talking about it in the spiritual sense. But in a way, your story is a pretty literal example of redemptive suffering. It was through the disabilities of your children and the conflicting opinions of various pastors (at least in part) that you were driven to seek out the truth on the subject. In doing so, you were led to the Church, and the Truth that it gives us. If it weren’t for them you may never have dug deeper. It was their suffering that helped lead you and your family to the redemption Christ offers us in His Church and through the Sacraments. I find that really cool.

Redemptive suffering is such an amazing concept. I’m still really only a baby when it comes to that…I think it takes a while for that sort of thing to ’sink in’…