Mum left devastated when her daughter says she will never 'feel joy'

As mums, all we want is for our children to be happy and healthy.

Sadly, however, sometimes this is out of our control, something that mum-of-two Amy Beth Gardner realised when her foster daughter said she would never "feel joy". 

Taking to Facebook, Amy recalled a moment in time that sent a chill down her spine. 

"We had only been their foster parents for a few months when I had a conversation with the oldest child that sent a chill down my spine," she wrote. 

"Only nine years old, she looked into my eyes and, with sadness breaking through her voice, said 'I don’t think I will ever feel joy'.

"She told me that living with us for the past few months had allowed her to feel safety, security and love but that she couldn’t imagine that she would ever know what it would feel like to experience joy."

Listening to her daughter's heartbreaking words, Amy explained that she knew exactly what had to be done to make sure her eldest could experience joy.

"In that moment, watching a child I loved assume that joy was too far gone for her to grasp, I knew exactly what to do," she wrote. 

"I booked a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort."

And while the the Magic Kingdom didn't have the desired effect on her eldest that it did on her youngest, something positive was happening. 

"After the fireworks ended, we made our way to the parking lot and took our place in line waiting for a bus back to our resort.

"We had been in line for a few minutes when I felt a tug at my shirt and turned to see her quietly crying next to me. I quickly bent down to her level and asked her what was wrong as I brushed the tears off her face only to hear her say words that made my heart soar: 

“I think this is what joy must feel like.”

"Critics might say that a parking lot is the unlikeliest of places for Disney magic to happen but they don’t know what you and I know – that the real magic of Disney isn’t found on Main Street or in a gift shop or even on any ride in the parks.

"The true magic of Disney is what happens inside of you when wonder and hope begin to take root and you start to believe that anything can happen with a little bit of magic."