A father’s journey with his Down Syndrome daughter

November 10, 2011  David Murray   8 comments

My friends at Peace Haven had their annual meeting last week. The guest speaker was retired pastor Dr. Benjamin Short, who also has a 40-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome. This is a deeply moving and informative account of their journey together. Thanks to Ryk Naves for sending me this.

  • Ashley Dawson

    I’m so thankful to have heard this. I work with individuals with intellectual disabilities and have found great friendship, learned important lessons, and seen great joy in and from them. Praise God that he too finds great value in these individuals.

  • Sylvie Manary

    I cannot express the blessing that hearing this has been to me. We have a 16yr old daughter with DS. We live in Guelph. It’s constantly a wonder to me how God works. Our steps seem to truly have been ‘ordered by the Lord’ as we have sought to delight and trust in Him. I don’t know what God has planned, but we may be in touch with Peace Haven in the near future. Thank you for sharing this talk.

  • Stephen Talas

    Excellent, moving and most encouraging.

    I have always found Exodus 4.11 amongst one of the most profound verses of scripture.

    Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

  • http://findingthemotherlode.wordpress.com Elizabeth DeBarros

    People with Down syndrome have an uncanny ability to make the rest of us more human.

    Sometime last fall I had the honor and pleasure of discovering that Tim Challies had posted a link to a piece I had written in tribute to my dear Aunt Mary, who happened to be born with Down syndrome. Soli Deo Gloria.

    http://findingthemotherlode.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/remembering-mary/

  • Margaret Heemskerk

    Dr. Short who is a retired pastor of the OCRC and OPC churches certainly stimulated and challenged us with his ‘speech’ where his lovely daughter, Katharine, was also present (as she says – as the guest of honour since the speech is all about me!:) :)
    Persons living with Down Syndrome have been historically very much misunderstood, unchallenged, and not treated with alot of dignity and respect, so to hear how this family overcame many of our ‘societal roles and misconceptions of persons with DS’ was beautiful! The love and dignity this young lady received while she was growing up (and still now:) because of her parents’ dedication to God and His Works is very evident! It’s sad when parents receive a cruel presentation from a doctor ‘ Your child is a ‘Down’s Idiot’ and will never be able to….”
    I thank God daily for the wonderful blessings that persons with developmental disabilities (including those with Down Syndrome) have brought to my life personally and to my family as well as to our church and community! They continually teach us how to be unconditional loving, trusting and appreciative to each other but above all to our Lord and Creator of ALL things/ persons!! Thanks Dr Murray for including this speech in your blog! May many people be blessed (and educated) by reading it!
    Margaret Heemskerk
    Director
    Peace Haven
    c/o Peace Haven Free Reformed Association

  • Grace

    As a grandmother of a special needs child, I found this talk lovely, honest, and encouraging. Thank you.

  • Rick Burchell

    As the father of a two year old daughter with Down Syndrome, I’m especially grateful for this message. Thank you for sharing it.

    We know that she is our gift from God and we rejoice that she has been given to us. I especially appreciate the scope of the message – 40 years. It is wonderful to hear testimony of God’s faithfulness to this family over the years. He is the same and we too can trust Him for our daughter’s future as well.

  • http://noahsdad.com Noah’s Dad

    Our son Noah was born with Down syndrome almost a year ago and we decided to create an online story of his life by uploading a daily one minute video to show the world that Down syndrome is ok!

    Thanks for sharing your story and we hope to connect with you and any one else who desires to show the world how great children born with Down syndrome are!

    -Rick
    NoahsDad

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