21 Year Old Speaks for First Time

One of the first things I fell for in my husband was his sister.  Yes, his sister.  It sounds strange, but you see, his sister has autism.  My brother has cerebral palsy.  So immediately, we connected.

Let me tell you about my sister.  Ever since she was a little girl, she has been told she could not learn.  She was placed in a public school system that assisted the "special needs" children.  Continually, her parents fought for her freedom to learn and her need for love.  (They are amazing, as so many of the parents of these children are).  But, alas, I cannot call my sister a child.

You see, we never knew how much she knew.  All we could see was her distant gaze as if she was in her own world.  Just give her music and she'll be content all day long.  But just months ago, my other mother Karen found another mother, Soma.  Soma developed the rapid prompting method for her own boy that had autism.  Through this system, the student uses a pencil to poke the letters of a stencil to spell out his or her own thoughts.  Many students have already learned concepts such as spelling, arithmetic, history, and science through listening.  They retain all this knowledge, but somewhere between knowing and speaking, thoughts become scrambled.  Through the RPM, the student is able to spell by tapping each letter to make words and sentences. 

So for 21 years, my sister did not speak.  She was told she could not learn.

Last winter, her parents and she went to Soma's camp in Texas.  When she was there, she spoke her first words.  Now after months, we realize how brilliant she is (definitely more than I am).

Just last week she "wrote" me a letter.  Then, Saturday, we visited over lunch and she began to "speak" her first sentences to us:

"Jessica, will you sit by me?"

"Nathan, I noticed you have a beard."
"Yes [I like it]."
"I love you."

"Jessica,I like to sit with you."

In just months, in our eyes, she has gone from a babe to a woman.

Tonight we got a call from my other mother.  She was somewhere between excitement and tears.  Today, my sister Melissa wanted to talk about God.  What about God?  There are so many things!  Where to begin?

She wanted to talk about redemption.
Throughout several conversations during the day, my other parents realized just how much she knows.  She knows you need to hear to believe.  You need to believe in the good news.  You need repent from sins and confess the faith in Christ.  And you need to be baptized, immersed in water for the remission of sins.  You must continue to be faithful all the days of your life. She wants to be a Christian.

My baby sister spoke her first words at 21. In months she went from babe to woman.  And now she will return into a babe once again through Christ.

Amen!