Exhausted Special Needs Mom: When God Doesn't Cure Your Child’s DisabilityExhausted Special Needs Mom: When God Doesn't Cure Your Child’s Disability
The Call with Nancy Sabato
Author and mum Paula Romang shares her journey of raising a severely disabled son, facing relentless caregiving and spiritual doubts, and then walking through deep grief after his death. Her story focuses on clinging to scripture, prayer and God’s presence when healing doesn’t come and the road is far longer and harder than expected.
18:36•2 Jul 2026
Faith in the Hard Road: A Special Needs Mum’s Story of Caregiving, Loss and Hope
Episode Overview
- Long-term suffering and disability are not signs that God has abandoned someone, even when prayers for healing seem unanswered.
- Caregiving can be crushing on physical, emotional and spiritual levels, and it is common to feel unseen and drained.
- Scripture and ongoing, honest prayer can become a solid bedrock when traditional, idealised quiet times are impossible.
- Grief after losing a child can take many years, and there is no shortcut around the “colourless world” of mourning.
- In seasons that test the soul, pain can either push a person towards deeper trust in God or away from him, and that response is a crucial choice.
“When we're in these situations that try our souls, we have a choice. We can let it drive us to the Saviour or we can let it drive us away.”
What drives someone to seek a life without easy answers from God, especially when a child’s suffering never lets up? This conversation on *The Call with Nancy Sabato* follows author and mum Paula Romang as she talks about raising her twin boys, Luke and Matthew, and what happened when Matthew’s severe disabilities changed every part of family life.
You’ll hear Paula describe the brutal reality of round-the-clock feeding schedules, seizures from 18 months old, and having to stay within arm’s length of a child with no safety awareness. She contrasts Luke’s steady milestones with Matthew’s constant medical crises and admits the deep spiritual questions that surfaced: "Were Matthew's special needs a punishment of some sort? Was I not praying hard enough?" Instead of offering quick fixes, Paula shares how her view of faith shifted.
She explains how Christian radio, scripture, and constant quiet prayers became her “truth intervention” when traditional ideas of perfect early-morning quiet times were impossible. She talks honestly about choosing between sinking into despair or, as she puts it, rising in God’s strength. The episode also spends time on grief after Matthew’s death, including hospice, the sacred moment of singing hymns as he passed, and the long, colourless road of mourning that followed.
Paula speaks to parents and caregivers who feel unseen and spent, reminding them that God "misses nothing" and that suffering people are not outside his care. This chat is especially suited to exhausted caregivers, parents of children with disabilities, and anyone wrestling with long-term suffering and faith. It’s candid, tender, and very real, and it might leave you asking: in your own hard season, are you letting pain push you away from God, or into his arms?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.