And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.
Mark 10:16 (AV)

Hello. My name is Barbara and I would like to share with you something of my time at work when I was employed as a welfare assistant at a school for mentally handicapped children (although I loved it so much it hardly counted as work!)

I felt strongly that God wanted me to work in Glenwood school and it was in obedience to His command that I wrote to the school and was granted an interview and then offered a job, much to my surprise.
I must admit, for the first week I did ask myself what I had done. When you are first confronted by so many children at once with various handicaps and disabilities it is rather overwhelming, but gradually as you get to know them as individual personalities the handicaps recede.

There were about seventy children aged from three years to nineteen years at the school, which had a warm and friendly atmosphere. All the children knew and encouraged each other and a new arrival was a subject of interest to all. They cooperated well and any achievement, however small, was warmly applauded at the weekly assemblies.

I felt very privileged to have the opportunity to share God's love with the children and to be of some service in helping them to lead the best life they could. Of course, humanly speaking, their possibilities were very limited. Not many will ever contribute to the gross national product or perform as the world would consider, fruitfully. However I am convinced that every single soul is precious to God. He knows about everyone, and He does not make mistakes. In some children I have seen an awareness and acceptance of God's love that is full and based solely on a witness in their hearts and not any intellectual knowledge; but then that is how we should all come to God.

Jesus said to His disciples: "...whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." - Luke 18:17 (NKJ)

Of course they were not little angels and getting them to do their best could be hard work.
It involved much nagging and cajoling, although I found singing and praying often produced amazing results!
They may not have been as perfect as we would hope our children might be, but then we were not perfect when God first loved us. He loves us unconditionally - just the way we are. We may wonder what on earth He sees in us until we realise that His idea of importance is totally different to ours.

"..whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:43-45 (NKJ)