LynnMarie Rink is a woman of influence as a 5 time Grammy nominated Squeezebox musical artist appearing on Jay Leno, and is currently touring in her own one woman off Broadway show Wrap Your Heart Around It. Her journey in life has not been easy. The daughter of immigrant parents, an alcoholic father, and an unrelenting need to be a perfectionist dealt her with many challenges. But it was the birth of her perfect special needs child James, that brought the greatest joy, resounding truths, and freedom to her life. Listen in her own words how she realized through the deeds of a child, how God loves us and how we are to love others.
“I was walking James into school this morning and he was stopping a lot, not excited about going to school (imagine that?!). I could tell a “melt down” was coming, when a little boy came up beside James and put his arm around him. He said, “Come on James, I will help you.” Immediately James starts walking. As the two of them are walking into the school, the little boy says to me, “My name is Charles and James listens to me… because I am the voice on his learning device” (James has a device at school where he can push a button to say what he wants – no, yes, outside, more, etc… and they’ve used Charles’ voice to be James’ voice). I said, “Wow, thank you so much Charles. How old are you?” Charles says, “I am 6 and three quarters.” They continue to walk, Charles keeps his arm around James shoulder the whole time. At one point, he stops to adjust James’ backpack which is slipping off. As I fought back the tears, we arrive inside the building to the point where I must let James walk alone. I ask James for a kiss, which he gives me – mouth fully open. Then Charles, who hasn’t taken his arm off of James this whole time, looks straight at me and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him”, and together, arm in arm, James and Charles walked to their classroom. It was then I realized that THAT is what life is about on so many levels. Taking care of people. Watching out for one another. Loving unconditionally. It’s moments like that that keep special needs parents like myself encouraged and hopeful. This is cause for a HUGE celebration… I ‘m thinking Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for breakfast!”
LynnMarie will be a key session panelist for the 2014 ASCEND Conference for women on Oct. 11th, info and registration at ascendconference.org. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with her and hundreds of other women who want to learn to break the chains of fear and defeat.
God is calling you to ASCEND! “What’t the battle you’re ready to win?”
