Twelve years ago today, A Good and Perfect Gift came out into the world. I still hear from readers regularly, and I am so so honored that our story has been a source of encouragement and hope and permission to feel all the feelings for so many families who have faced the unexpected news of a Down syndrome diagnosis.
That said, I didn’t write A Good and Perfect Gift for those mothers and fathers. I figured they would learn all the things we had learned, because they too had been given the unexpected gift of their child. They too would submerge themselves in fear and shame and guilt and anger and loss and ugly grief. They too would be lifted up out of that dark place and into a different way of being, of seeing ourselves as fellow humans, of giving and receiving, of slowing down, of beauty and grace.
I wrote this book for people like me, before I had a child with Down syndrome. Type-A, perfectionistic, over achievers who think their value comes from doing better. I wrote this book for people I now call meritocratic spiritual seekers. People who have always worked hard to get what they deserve and who are asking the big questions about what matters and what it means to be human and how we might be able to live in hope and love and peace together.
So whether you are a family member of a person with Down syndrome, or just a person who longs for a new way of seeing the world, perhaps A Good and Perfect Gift is for you.
More with Amy Julia:
- Book: A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny
- Free Resource: Missing Out on Beautiful: Growing Up With a Child With Down Syndrome
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