Crushed Crayons

Monday Devotion

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:2–4

Dr. Cathy Carpenter is an accomplished physician with a heart for God. Her second child, Matt, was a difficult boy from day one. He became known as their “birth control baby,” making both Cathy and her husband, Gordon, swear off any thoughts of having another child. Whereas Cathy and Gordon took much pride in their quiet and accommodating first child, with Matt, Cathy confesses, “I had been forced to shift to the role of trying to survive parenting.”

Many people had volunteered to watch their “perfect” baby named Bethany, but nobody volunteered to watch Matt—even though Gordon and Cathy needed a break from him ten times more than they ever needed from Bethany. Word got around about Matt, so before long Gordon and Cathy had to shell out serious dollars to get someone who was willing to babysit him for an evening. Matt got kicked out of his first preschool by the age of three.