Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

Recently in our area they had an event called "walking a mile in her shoes" it was to bring awareness in regards to domestic violence, they had men walk for a mile in ladies high heel shoes! I think this would be a challenge for even some women, me in particular who prefers flat heeled shoes! I guess the idea of it was to bring an awareness and understanding to other people as to what it is like to be someone else!
Something happened to me the other day that brought this particular phrase to mind. It was one of those events that before I had children or understood what it was like to have a child with Autism I would probably have rolled my eyes, mumbled parenting advice under my breath and made a judegement about the situation.

We had made a visit to the Dr. with E and while there it just did not go very well at all! It ended in me having to carry a kicking, screaming and very frustrated little boy out of the dr. office, during all this I vcould feel all eyes on us, even murmurs coming from those in the waiting room!

Even though we finally made it out the door, it went from bad to worse, with him not wanting to get in the car or his seat! It was really quite awful!
I have had other things similar to this happen before, but it had been a while!!!

This situation reminded me we are all walking in different shoes. Somedays I don't particularly like the shoes that I have to walk in , sometimes they hurt, they make me cry, they make me tierd, make me sad and sometimes even a little angry! Yet all of us have some kind of shoes we are walking in that we don't like either, whether it be illness, fianancial worries, marital concerns, maybe even sleep deprivation from a newborn baby. But for me going through this and walking in these shoes I really hope makes me stop and not be so quick to judge a persons actions or a particular situation! It gives me insight into a whole new world that definitely did not understand before!

I don't like Autism, I don't like that we have a son with Autism and I don't like that my son has to deal with it too! But for some reason this is what God has chosen for our family and I want to be able to walk in these shoes with Grace, Love, Patience and mercy and with out judgement of others too.