What was the situation like before?
October 18, 2005, was the greatest day of my life as my daughter was born. She was born with PKU and because she wasn’t diagnosed until a year and three months later, she incurred irreparable brain damage that left her disabled as a special needs child.
She doesn’t speak much and when she does, you’re left wondering if she’s really there or just repeating sounds that she has heard others say. She has learned to say things that she wants and occasionally “yes” or “no,” but even that she gets wrong about half of the time.
As a father I have come to terms with my daughter’s disability and loved her through it. The journey to raise her has been hard, but I have always accepted and loved her.
Nevertheless, throughout the years, all that I have ever wanted was to know that she knows my Savior and for more than 17 years in church, I have hardly mentioned my secret prayer.
For 17 years, I have prayed with her and asked her if she knows Jesus and her responses are just like an autistic special needs child, and depend on what thing they are repeating that day.
“Katy… do you know Jesus?”
“Coke” she replies with a smile.
What did God do?
On August 13, 2023, at Bethel Austin, I went up to the front to give my wife a break from Katy and let her worship God in peace. Katy had been extra clingy and difficult that day and pushing on both of our nerves. Out of nowhere, Melvin popped up. I didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, but he reached over to pray for Katy. Not me, but Katy. I was nervous. Would she slap his hands like she almost always did? Would she embarrass me and start screaming? Instead, she grabbed his hands and put them over her ears. Something happened. A strike of light in her pupils and a moment of joy in her face. She lit up like she had seen something that made her so happy. She began clapping and imitating the sounds of the music, and Melvin went on his way.
As I walked to the chairs to sit for the sermon, I asked Katy as I have for years. Did God speak to you? And instead of “Coke” or “French Fries” or one of the many replies that showed me she was not even aware of my question, she paused and with great difficulty she finally said, “Jjjjeeesus.” In disbelief I asked again thinking it surely is a tic or an auto response. Did God speak to you? She again struggled as though she were trying with all her ability to say the words and out came “Jesus. Heart.”
What is the situation like now?
I hugged her and since then she can’t wait to get to church. She even repeated the story when asked by her Grandma a week later. Thanks to Melvin, Katy confessed with her mouth that Jesus is in her heart.
This Sunday, we heard the sad and yet happy news that Melvin passed on to be with the True Father in heaven. We found an image of him and showed it to our daughter, Katy, and she said, “Thank you, Jesus, for heart. Amen”.
I wish I knew Melvin better. I wish I would have been his friend. Thank you for praying for my child. She may be the least in society, but what you did for her only the True Father can reward. Bless you.
Categories: Salvation, Miracles
