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By Guest Columnist Deborah Dennis
“Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way, you will follow Christ’s teachings.” Galations 6:2
On March 29, 2012, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions announced new data for autism. The new ratio for children having autism is now 1 in 88, a 23 percent increase in two years, and a 78 percent increase since 2000, when the ratio was 1 in 110 children being diagnosed with autism. When I got the news, I wept for our sons and daughters. Someone told me not too long ago that the new quote for autism was, “If you don’t know someone with autism, you soon will.” As the mother of a child with autism, and an advocate for special needs children of all kinds, this is heartbreaking. More children are being diagnosed, and after millions of dollars in research, there is still no known cure. This information was released two days before Autism Awareness Month began.
If it were not for my faith in God, I could very easily sink into total despair. I’m so glad that April is Autism Awareness Month, the same month as Easter. As believers in Christ, we identify ourselves with the sacrifice Christ made for us at the cross, while taking joy in His resurrection. I can identify with His disciples grieving over His death, feeling all hope was lost. To them, His death was final. No hope, no cure. But on the third day, when Mary went to the tomb, she was told by the angels, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Moments later, her grief turned to joy when she was met by a transformed, empowered Jesus who told her, “Tell my disciples I have risen.”
In this same way, I choose to believe that one day God is going to touch what we consider dead or hopeless, and the lives of our children are going to be transformed. Whether it is a new medical breakthrough for autism, or a supernatural move of God, it doesn’t matter to me. I try not to question His methods. His ways are higher than ours.
Helen Keller once said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we took so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened up for us.” Although deaf and blind, she realized that there was no point grieving for what was lost. She chose instead to look forward. To all the parents that have children with autism, be encouraged this month. Don’t let this new information from the CDC get you down. Our God is greater than any circumstance or disease we face. Let’s choose to look forward to new things, and not at the doors that have been slammed in our faces. If you don’t have a child with Autism, please remember us. Open up your hearts this month. While considering our daily struggles, believe with us for a cure.
By faith, I choose to believe that the cure for autism in on the way.
Click on the links below to read Deborah's other articles.
10.3.11 Column
10.27.11 Column
12.1.11 Column
1.6.12 Column
2.11.12 Column
3.16.12 Column
There is an Autism and Spectrum Disorders Support Group in our area. Go to the Calendar of Events page and scroll down from the top to find out about Jeremiah's Promise and how you can become a part of this group.