Love facing down autism

Daily, I witness spiritual healings that never reach the public ear. Yesterday, one patient so eloquently articulated a touching experience she had as a school teacher, that I asked her if I could share it with you. She agreed.


She emailed as follows:


Hi Evan,

In the spirit of holiday giving you need to hear this because your work this fall made a huge difference in the life of a child today.

I have a severely autistic first grader who has never gotten through any class without screaming, crying and throwing fits. He lives a parallel life where he goes to school with other kids but only for social norming -- he can't possibly look and function like them for any period of time.

The goal for the Christmas program was for him to enter the room with everyone. That's it. Performing wasn't even considered. We put him up on the risers, and the fits, screaming and crying commenced. There were five adults standing around him, stroking his back and talking to him while the rest of the first grade sang. During the second song, they started to remove him from the room.

I had been thinking so much during all this commotion of a couple of things you had said to me the last two days. And while I was playing and the kids were singing, and 150 people watching, and these five adults starting a removal process, I just whispered "Leave him -- I think he'll calm down." And I kept thinking about what you'd said -- that harmony persists, peace persists. And I thought, autism doesn't persist, autism doesn't exist -- and I knew it was true. And that scene stopped right then and there. He stood up and participated in the first normal experience I think he's ever had. It was awesome. And a whole lot of people saw it happen. His mother, who was one of the five adults, sat on the floor and sobbed. We repeated the program in the afternoon, and the adults came back expecting him to throw fits and be screaming again. But he didn't. He walked in, stood up there with no assistance and participated and acted almost normal for the entire time.

Everyone was in shock. All I've heard was how he must've gotten used to it, or blah-blah-blah, etc. But I know what really happened -- because I felt the power of God working in that moment and I may not ever be the same.

Thank you for every effort you've made to wake me up. If this is what waking up is about--Wow!!!

Sorry for the teardrops on this e-mail!!

Yours truly,



P.S. After the program the mom was crying and said to several of us, "What would I do without all of you supporting us? What if I don't always have that?" I hugged her and said "The support you feel is Love. Sometimes it will change faces, but you will always have that Love." She didn't know the Love I was talking about involved a capital letter but the message soothed her and took away some fear.