Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the Raising Autistic Disciples podcast. My name is Lara Roberts and I'm on a mission to learn how my autistic son Graham learns best for the sake of the gospel. Today, we are wrapping up our four part series on autism and healing.
Speaker: God's sovereignty. We've been talking about prayer and discipleship. And if you're joining me here for the first time, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to the other three because we're building something, right? In part one, we talked about what we can actually know. And that is God gets the outcome.
Speaker: I get the assignment of raising an autistic disciple. Okay, he's in control of the outcome, but I know my assignment based on the Great Commission. In part two, we talked about how i what I pray for when I don't know the outcome.
Speaker: I ask boldly, I work faithfully with the tools and the resources and the people God has put around me. I still hope deeply, and I hold the outcome with open hands, trusting God knows best. And in part three,
Speaker: We asked, who decided neurotypical means whole? Because the target of discipleship is not neurotypical. It is Christ-likeness. And now in part four of this final episode, um here we are.
Speaker: Because, listen friends, after after these episodes of me telling you what I believe, there there's something I desperately do not want you to do. Believe it just because I said it.
Speaker: I'm just one more voice out there, right? I'm a mom. I'm a Bible teacher. I host this podcast. I've studied, right? I've wrestled with this. i have convictions, but I am not your authority.
Speaker: And neither is the person on the Instagram reel that started this whole conversation today. of where I got prompted to begin this, this series along with many DMS after a certain reel was posted. And there's been a couple of them, honestly, but I, there's one in particular that I get sent all the time through my DM when it comes to asking these questions. So the final question of this whole entire series is this, when Christians disagree,
Speaker: okay when christians disagree and everybody seems completely convinced that their conviction is right who who do you listen to right who do you listen to so again my dms have been interesting lately um if you follow me on instagram you may have already know part of what prompted this series over the last little while i've had friends send me videos send me reels um I've gotten messages like, have you seen this? What do you think about this? Lara, you need to respond to this. about you know There's certain content creators out there that are posting videos about healing and autism. Some of them even lean toward autism as sin and things like that. And and that's that's that's a serious thing and and that's a serious claim. And so several of those DMs that you've sent pointed me toward a particular one, right? Now, I want to establish something before I go any further.
Speaker: Please hear me clearly. I don't follow this particular content creator. um I don't know them. There's several of them. Okay. I don't, the ones that do post this time, I don't follow them. I'm going be I've never met them.
Speaker: I haven't consumed their entire body of work, meaning their entire Instagram feed. I've watched one particular video in particular that people keep sending me. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you ah everything I know that this person believes. I'm not going to diagnose their motives. Okay.
Speaker: I'm not going to build an entire episode around actually tearing them down another Christian either. that That's definitely not my posture or my heart. But there is one statement in this particular video that stopped me.
Speaker: And because so many of you have sent me them, sent me this, but this one, I've got to address it. And the statement was essentially this. If someone doesn't believe this, and and this particular content creator was stating, if someone doesn't believe that autism is sin or that autism can be healed or should be healed, then they don't know God.
Speaker: The statement was, if someone doesn't believe this, they don't know God. And that concerned me so much that this, this, another believer that that would go on the internet and say that has that certainty that that someone doesn't know God.
Speaker: it It concerned me much more than the fact that this person and I might disagree about autism and healing. Because there's a there's a difference between saying, Lara, think your theology is wrong and saying, you know, sister, because you and I disagree with, you because you disagree with my theology on this particular issue, you don't actually know God.
Speaker: the Those are not the same claim. One is a theological disagreement or interpretation. The other is a judgment concerning someone's relationship with God.
Speaker: And if you're going to make that second claim, you better have clear biblical authority for it. Not a testimony, not an impression, not a, oh, God told me.
Speaker: Not a reel on Instagram. Scripture. And this is where those healed hiald of autism testimonies become such a good example of why discernment matters, why biblical literacy matters in this conversation. You've seen the reels. I've seen them.
Speaker: One family says, our child was healed of autism. We prayed and then automatically their autism was gone. And maybe, maybe the before and after really is dramatic.
Speaker: A child was having an enormous meltdown becomes calmer or aggression decreases. A non-speaking child communicates or they're sleeping. They're participating in school. They're interacting with families in ways they weren't before.
Speaker: Something happened. And I want to be very careful here because I don't think my job is to sit on the other side of Instagram and say, nope, God didn't do anything. How would I know that?
Speaker: I can rejoice with that family. But I can also ask, what actually changed here? Because behavior is not autism.
Speaker: Did you catch that? Okay, I'll say it one more time. Behavior is not autism. A meltdown is not autism. Aggression is not autism. Elopement is not autism. Being non-speaking is not autism.
Speaker: Maybe communication increased. Maybe somebody discovered that the child was in pain and something, a resource helped. Maybe sleep improved. Maybe anxiety decreased. Maybe sensory needs were accommodated. Or maybe they just matured and growed over age. Maybe a therapy helped. Maybe several things happened at once. But all of those things are things that happen because of a diet or things that come with the diagnosis, but they are not autism-based.
Speaker: itself okay and as christians why would any of those explanations mean god wasn't at work god's work does not become less divine because he worked through ordinary means he works through therapy he works through school teachers helping them understand things he helps through parents discipling i also don't have to call every developmental gain miraculous healing in order to give god glory for it
Speaker: So I can celebrate what I actually know happened without pretending I know more than I do. And that that's going to matter throughout this episode. So I need you to hang on to that. Okay? Here's the thing.
Speaker: Confidence is not authority. And I think that's crazy in our modern age and on social media is that the more like the how you sound gives you authority, right?
Speaker: Which is kind of silly if you think about it. But one thing social media has taught me is that confidence is incredibly persuasive. I mean, somebody looks directly into the camera and says something with an absolute certainly and suddenly it feels authority, authoritative.
Speaker: But confidence is not authority. I mean, you all fall for it. I have like two or three things in my office right now that have persuaded me to buy them on Instagram. And I did confidence. is authority Like that's what we've been trapped into on the social media thing is the more confident somebody can tell us that a face cream actually works. We're going to buy it. Right. Someone can speak confidently confidently and be wrong about autism and healing and any other conversation. Somebody can cry while saying it and still be wrong.
Speaker: Someone can have extra extraordinary testimony and be wrong about what their testimony means. Someone can have a million followers and still be wrong.
Speaker: And someone can quote scripture and interpret it incorrectly. And before I get too comfortable pointing at everybody else, let me add this. I can be wrong. Raising autistic disciples in my my page or whatever is not your theological authority.
Speaker: The word of God is. Every pastor, author, Bible teacher, podcast host, conference speaker, Instagram creator, and every thought Lara Roberts puts into this microphone sits underneath the authority of scripture.
Speaker: Not beside it, certainly not above it, under it.
Speaker: Open heart and an open Bible. that's That's what I want you to have. I love what happens in Acts 17 when Paul and Silas arrive in Berea. Luke tells us him that the Bereans receive the word with eagerness, but then they examined the scriptures daily to see if what they were hearing was true.
Speaker: Think about that. This is Paul. This is the Apostle Paul. And Luke commends these people for checking what Paul said against Scripture. I love the balance there, okay? They weren't cynical.
Speaker: They didn't walk into a room assuming Paul was a heretic and looking for a reason to destroy him and blast him with words. They received the message eagerly, but eagerness did not replace examination. I'm pretty sure Paul was very confident in his delivery because he had been overcome by the gospel, but the Bereans wanted to make sure of that, right?
Speaker: They had an open heart and they had an open Bible. or the scrolls and things like that that they had, right? I think that's pretty good a pretty good posture for Christians living in the age of Instagram and social media. Not cynicism, but not gullibility.
Speaker: Discernment based on what Scripture actually says. You can listen to somebody and think, that's interesting. Maybe they're right. And then say, show me.
Speaker: show Show me in scripture where it says where you got that. And here's the the line that I love. But they quoted a Bible verse. Oh, geez. Okay, brothers and sisters. And and this is where discernment gets really hard. Because almost everybody making Christian content can quote scripture out there. Right?
Speaker: So the question cannot simply be, did they use a Bible verse? I mean, please go read your actual Bible and in the Gospels you will see that Satan himself quoted Scripture to Jesus in Matthew 4.
Speaker: The question isn't, was Scripture quoted in this content creator's reel? The question is, was Scripture handled faithfully? What does the passage actually say? Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? What is happening around that verse? What kind of literature am I reading to help me understand it?
Speaker: Is this a command? Is it a promise? A proverb? A narrative describing something that happened? Is this promise being made to a particular person in a particular circumstance? Or is this problem to all believers everywhere?
Speaker: How does my interpretation fit with the rest of Scripture? The whole canon of Scripture. Okay, because it's a whole grand narrative. We can't just cherry pick verses here in there. Remember Isaiah 55? I talked about that last time. By his wounds we were healed. In this conversation about autism healing, we can't use that verse because that verse talks about being healed from scripture. I'm sorry, that verse talks about being healed from sin. Okay, and that is the ultimate healing. Being healed of sin. The ultimate healing any of us can't.
Speaker: can ask for and God will give when we place our faith in Christ for salvation. So got to be careful that just because you're quoting a Bible verse, you quote it and you you use it in context when a content creator is talking to you, talking online. Because you can make the Bible say pretty wild things if you're willing to lift one sentence out of context, one verse out of context.
Speaker: And healing is a perfect example of it. It gets done all the time on social media. Does scripture contain miraculous healing? Yes, it absolutely does. Jesus heals in the Gospels. The apostles heal. God answers prayer. James tells believers to pray for the sick.
Speaker: We can cannot be faithful to Scripture and pretend that those passages don't exist. Healing does happen in the Bible, and praise God it does. But neither can I take the fact that Jesus healed someone in a biblical narrative and immediately jumped to, therefore God has promised to remove every disability from every faithful Christian who asks.
Speaker: there's There's another step there. And you you have to prove it. What does this passage actually authority give me authority to promise another person? That's what I'm asking these these content creators who are talking about your child can be healed of autism.
Speaker: You know? Or autism is because of sin. Okay. Then what the passages that you're using... How do you have authority to make that promise to another person? Because what if tomorrow they wake up and their child is still autistic?
Speaker: then Then what do you give them? What do you say? That they're not praying enough?
Speaker: Nope. Not going to buy that. Right? Not buying. Right? Because here's the deal.
Speaker: Jesus healed. Okay? God healed. Like we see healing. But he did not heal everyone. Okay. He, he did not heal everyone. There are people still at the pool of Bethesda, not healed.
Speaker: We get recorded one and praise be to God. We do. And we take that, but it it was not everyone. Some like Paul, the thorn still remained for the glory of God.
Speaker: Okay. So what does scripture say? And what am I adding?
Speaker: That's a big filter I've started using when I hear a big theological claim on the internet by some confident Instagram content creator. Right?
Speaker: What does scripture say and what are they adding to it? Which is very dangerous. Okay. First, what does scripture explicitly say? What is clear? Second, what conclusion is this person drawing from what scripture actually says? Okay.
Speaker: because sometimes scripture says a and somebody immediately gives me b c d e and f and i'm sitting here thinking hang on hang on hang on where did all of that come from like okay you got you got me on a scripture a but then you added you cherry picked and you added b c d and it makes it combined right inference okay infer inferring what scripture is it's it's dan here's how i'll say we take truths from across scripture and understand them together all the time but we need enough humility to distinguish between scripture act explicitly says this and based on scripture this is the conclusion i've reached
Speaker: Different levels of certainty here. Someone else's testimony cannot become God's promise to my family. Jeez Louise. Someone else's testimony of God's faithfulness, that God did something in their life, can't automatically become what he has promised my family.
Speaker: I can praise God for what he did in someone else's life without turning their experience into a promise he made to mine. Again, like he's, he is he, God is God. He is sovereign over all things. He is working all things out that we cannot see for his glory and our good.
Speaker: But what he has done in one family's knife life is not automatically promised to my family. God's promises are found in his word. So be careful when someone on the internet makes their position or their conviction a test of your faith.
Speaker: And that brings me back to the statement that that bothered me the most from that content creator about autism and healing. if you If you don't believe this, you don't know God.
Speaker: Christianity does have boundaries. Doctrine matters. I don't want to respond to a theological overconfidence by acting like every belief is equally optional.
Speaker: 1 Corinthians 15 tells us Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised. Romans 10 tells us to confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead. John says in John 14 that He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Him. Who Jesus is matters. The resurrection matters. The gospel matters. Grace, faith matters. The lordship of Jesus matters. Those are truths Christianity cannot surrender and remain Christianity.
Speaker: But Christians have also disagreed for centuries about ah important theological questions while recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. So healing is one of those areas where faithful Bible-believing Christians disagree. Okay?
Speaker: I have friends who believe that God is going to heal their child of autism and they are praying boldly. Right?
Speaker: But... If you're going to say so boldly, you cannot know God unless you agree with my particular conclusion about autism and healing, you have elevated your particular conclusion to the level of the gospel.
Speaker: And if you're going to do that, you need biblical authority. And let me tell you, sister, you don't got it. You may have confidence. You may have experience. And you may have a personal testimony.
Speaker: But you do not get to do a claim that someone does not know God if they do not believe your personal conviction. It's not in here.
Speaker: This has become one of the most important principles, um most important lines for me. My level of confidence should match Scripture's level of clarity.
Speaker: I pray that. I pray that you would pray that for me when it comes to this Raising Autistic Disciples podcast and platform. i My level of confidence that I exude and that I talk with and things like that should match level Scripture's level of clarity. where Where Scripture is clear, I should be clear.
Speaker: Jesus is Lord. Jesus rose from the dead. Salvation is by grace and grace alone. Jesus will return. He said, go and make disciples. I will plant my feet there.
Speaker: Because where scripture has not explicitly answered my question of, will God heal my autistic son? I want to be humiliated, have enough humility to say, I don't know. Does God have authority over autism? Yeah.
Speaker: Yes, he does. 100%. Can God heal? Yes. Should Christians pray? Yes. Can i ask boldly for for God for things? Yes. Has God promised me that if I achieve a particular level of faith, he will remove my kid's autism?
Speaker: I cannot find that promise. Does scripture tell me autism itself is a personal s sin? No, it does not. Does scripture tell me autism itself is evidence of demonic oppression? No, it does not.
Speaker: Does scripture tell me every autistic Christian must become neurotypical? No, it does not. So I am not going to speak about those claims with the same certainty i am when I say Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Speaker: 100% certainty. And because he rose from the dead, now, those of us who place our faith in Christ will live with him for all eternity. Certain. Done. 100% true.
Speaker: Scripture has given me that clarity, has been clear about that. But it hasn't it hasn't been it is not clear about whether God intends to heal on this side of eternity. So I shouldn't pretend to have equal certainty with that.
Speaker: And also, look okay. All right. all alright Hang on tight. Okay. Buckle up right here. All right. You ready for this? Be careful with the quote, God told me.
Speaker: Be careful with that. be Be careful when you hear that from other content creators that, oh, God told me.
Speaker: Okay. Now, listen, i I totally get Christians from we got different theological traditions, meaning we're we were all raised differently in different contexts and whatnot. So you're going to hear that phrase differently. Some Christians are comfortable using it to describe an impression or a leading they believe came from the Holy Spirit. Other Christians use it more, more cautious language, right? I'm not settling that debate today either. Yeah, that's not where I'm going. But I think we should all be able to agree on this. No personal impression gets to overrule scripture.
Speaker: No revelation I believe God has given specifically to me automatically becomes binding revelation for you. i If I believe the Lord is leading me towards something that does not contradict scripture, I can prayerfully walk in that. But if I say, God told me every autistic person is this, or God told me every autistic person, or or yeah God told me every person who disagrees with me and doesn't believe that he can heal autism or that autism is because of sin,
Speaker: it doesn't know God now I'm making a universal theological claim and attaching it to God's name like signing God's name on it and saying I have authority to sign on behalf of God and say if you don't believe if you don't take my personal position on this that that autism is because of sin or that autism God can heal it and you're not praying enough or having a faith I'm going to sign God's name to it you better be careful That should make us incredibly cautious.
Speaker: God told me cannot become a conversational end, a conversational ending card that makes biblical examination off limits. The Holy Spirit who inspired the word of God, inspired scripture is not threatened by you opening up scripture and seeing what scripture says clearly.
Speaker: he The Holy Spirit's job is to reveal and to help us understand the Word of god So be careful claiming something you do not have authority to claim.
Speaker: you You do not have authority to claim that just because I disagree with you and, and, and yeah, you you don't have authority to claim that I don't know God because I don't, I don't, I don't carry or hold your same theological conviction.
Speaker: The gospel, the gospel is over all, right? Okay. Okay.
Speaker: so here's So here's the thing. Parents, this is why discernment matters so much. And this is where I think I feel feel particularly protective of a social of of us special needs parent when it comes to raising autistic disciples because when your child is struggling...
Speaker: certainty is incredibly attractive. Like, like it's like we hunger for it, right? when When we see our child struggling, we want to provide something that's helpful, right? If somebody looks at a parent who would do almost anything to help their child,
Speaker: And they say, I know the answer. We're going to listen, right? It's and and incredibly attractive. When you scroll Instagram, you're like, you know, you stop on one that was like, I help my autistic kids sleep by doing that. You know, it's attractive, right? That's why we we do certain things.
Speaker: um Do this therapy. Try this diet. Buy this supplement. Pray this prayer. Renounce this. Declare this. I don't know why I just sounded Southern there. I mean, it's kind funny. ah Believe this harder.
Speaker: Because you you love your child, right? And when you're scared or desperate or exhausted, somebody else's certainty can feel like hope. But Christian parents need something better than somebody else's certainty. We need truth with a capital T.
Speaker: And here's what I need us to remember. Somebody else's certainty is not antidote to my uncertainty. Scripture is where I need to go to for truth because it is truth.
Speaker: I don't have to manufacture certainty where God hasn't given it because he has given me plenty of certainty where I need it.
Speaker: For repetition's sake, can I just say that one more time? can can Can you write this down too? I don't have to manufacture certainty where God hasn't given it because he has given me plenty of certainty where I need it because he's God. He knows.
Speaker: he know the The revealed things in scripture are for our good. The things that are a mystery are for, they're a mystery for our good too, right? So here's the thing, friend, stop letting the algorithm disciple you.
Speaker: And I'm saying that as someone who makes content for the algorithm. It's kind of I know, you know, it's weird, but but I'm saying it to me too. Stop letting the algorithm and social media disciple you. Social media rewards certainty.
Speaker: It rewards outrage and fear and novelty. It rewards somebody looking at the camera and saying, nobody's talking to this. So let me talk about and tell you all the answer I have. duhdada Right? Meanwhile, Christians have have probably been arguing about some version of this for like 17,000 years. nuance doesn't make great content it doesn't make great reels all right i've studied this intensively and faithful christians have reached several conclusions isn't nearly as clickable as the church has been lying to you right do you see i'm going here yeah yeah it's called text on screen like if you ever come across a reel you know like i said that statement before i've studied this intensively and faithful christians have reached several conclusions that's not gonna get clicked on But the church has been lying to you is going to get clicked on. Okay. um
Speaker: Something feeling ah relative doesn't make it a revelation. Something being popular doesn't make it true. And something being controversial does not make it courageous. And certainly something being confidentially the delivered, confidently delivered does not make it biblical.
Speaker: Friends, you have the word of God. You have the local church and the believers who study it. You have pastors. You have mature believers. You have 2,000 years of Christians who have wrestled with doctrine, suffering, healing, disability, sovereignty, and prayer.
Speaker: Use those resources. You do not need an Instagram reel to tell you what Christianity is. But, and this is important, don't run into the opposite lane either. Don't become cynical. Discernment isn't sitting with your arms crossed waiting for someone to say something wrong so you can label them a false teacher.
Speaker: Remember the Bereans. They receive the message eagerly. They examine the scriptures. That's the posture I'm asking the Lord to help me have. Open heart, open Bible. Teach me, Lord. I'm listening.
Speaker: Help me understand where what you're revealing to me. Maybe I'm wrong. And show me, Lord. And then ask other believers, let's look at the scripture together. What if I'm wrong?
Speaker: And yes, this series has forced me to ask that question to myself. What what if I'm wrong in this whole healing and autism conversation? What if 10 years from now, God has corrected some part of my theology?
Speaker: Well, good. I hope I'm humble enough to change. My goal is not to defend Lara Roberts' position on autism healing for the rest of my life. My goal is to find truth.
Speaker: If someone one can show me from scripture that I have a misunderstanding about something, I want to listen. That doesn't mean i have ah don't have convictions. I mean, you just listen to four episodes of them. I have clearly have convictions. Here's the thing.
Speaker: Instagram content creators are are not God's word. Okay? God's word is 100% true, trustworthy, and accurate. and That's the truth that we stand on. And so be like a Berean every Sunday with your pastor, with your favorite author that you read, or the person on Instagram, the podcast that you listen to, including this one.
Speaker: Study the scripture, hold it in one hand, and hold the hold hold what you're hearing in one hand and your Bible in the other. So, all right, where have I landed in all this? This is the last episode in all this. I am grateful for those of you who have, who have swam through the, the Southern accent of Lara Roberts and heard my conviction, um, heard where I stand on this, uh, you know, praise the Lord that we've gotten this far. Um, I hope it was helpful.
Speaker: Um, But you you may have more questions now than I possibly could have ever answered in in four episodes. Here's where I'm at. Here's here's where I am.
Speaker: Can God heal? Yes. Does God intend to remove Graham's autism on the side of eternity? I don't know. Does that make me passive? Absolutely not. I pray, teach, advocate, pursue growth, celebrate progress. I seek support. I ask God for wisdom. I ask for communication, whatever that may look like. I ask God to help him learn to read for friendships and self-advocacy. And I ask for sanctification on both of our parts. And above all, everything else, I ask for God to save my son.
Speaker: Do I believe neurotypical is God's definition of wholeness? Absolutely not. Neurotypical is a neurological category. Redeemed is a theological category. Do I know exactly what my kids neurology will look like in heaven? No, I don't.
Speaker: But guess what? Praise be to God that he knows and he will get it right. He knows what restoration looks like for my son. yeah he'll get He'll get it right. Praise be to God.
Speaker: Do faithful Christians disagree about healing? Yeah, we do. Absolutely. And the disagreement about healing does not give me permission to redefine the gospel around my conclusion. So what do I do with everything I don't know?
Speaker: This is where I've landed to answer that question, friends. Here it is. I know my assignment. I'm so certain of it. I know my assignment. Matthew 28, 19 through 20.
Speaker: through tony But here's what I do know certain. Jesus has been crucified and he has risen from the grave. Praise be to God. And because of the resurrection, it changes everything. Okay? And he stands before his disciples in Matthew 28 and he says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. There's sovereignty.
Speaker: He is sovereign. over And then he says, go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, languages, and tribes. There's my assignment. Baptizing them. Teaching them to observe everything I've commanded. And then he says, and remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
Speaker: There's presence. His presence. That's authority based on Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Then he gives me the assignment to go and raise autistic disciples and the other disciples in my house. And then, praise God, he doesn't leave us to do alone. He gives us his presence. The one who has all authority is the one who gave me my assignment.
Speaker: And he didn't say, go and make disciples once you've solved every theological mystery or once you've made them non-autistic. He didn't say, go make disciples once Christians finally agree about healing. He didn't say, go and make disciples once your child's diagnosis changes. He said, go make disciples.
Speaker: The sentence that started this entire series is a sentence I want to end with. And here it is. I am more theologically certain about the Great Commission's command than I am about whether God intends to heal my autistic son's autism on the side of eternity.
Speaker: That doesn't dismiss healing or make it unimportant. It puts healing in its proper place.
Speaker: I don't need to know everything God intends to do with my autistic son's autism to know what God has told me to do with my autistic son today. Go disciple him. And friends, there's freedom in that.
Speaker: I don't have to choose between believing God can heal and discipling my autistic kid. I can pray boldly and disciple. I can hope for progress and accept my son's diagnosis.
Speaker: I can pursue support and trust in God's sovereignty. I can ask hard theological questions and obey what God has already made crystal clear in his word.
Speaker: I can say, God, I don't know what you intend to do here tomorrow, three years, 30 years from now. And then I can open up my Bible with my autistic son and read and tell him the truth of the gospel every single day.
Speaker: So, friend, open your Bible. I want to end this series exactly where I told you I would when we started it. Open your Bible. Yeah. Don't build your theology from a real. Don't build it from somebody else's story or testimony. And please don't build it from me or this podcast. Open the Word of God.
Speaker: Read, read, read all the accounts. Read chapters. Read books. Study context. Ask questions. And then do something else. Turn every one of those questions toward me too. And check me.
Speaker: Check yourself as well. Don't give me an exemption because you like this podcast. If I tell you something about God, open his word to to check me. Because my goal for you is not to finish the series knowing what Lara Roberts thinks about autism and healing and then borrow my conviction. My goal is discipleship.
Speaker: Yours, mine, my grants, and your autistic kids or the kids that are in your church ministry. And that brings me back to my boy.
Speaker: Mike Graham, after four episodes, after healing, discussion, healing and sovereignty and prayer and wholeness and redemption and disagreement and discernment, I keep coming back to my boy, my my my little boy, my who is a linebacker, but you know, he's huge, but he is still my little boy, my grand, my son, my, the image bearer in my house living with me, who I've been assigned to raise.
Speaker: He's autistic, but man, he's loved. He's growing. He's learning. He's a sinner in need of grace and in need of a savior. He's in need of Jesus, just like his mom.
Speaker: And I don't know everything God intends to do with his life. I don't know what Graham will be able to do at 15 or 45. I don't know what progress will look like. I don't know which limitations will still remain for him.
Speaker: I don't know how God will answer every prayer that I'm praying in this season. I don't know what his adult look like adult life will look like. There are a lot of things I don't know. But I know Jesus.
Speaker: And I know what Jesus told me to do. So tomorrow, I'm going to do what I've been doing. I'm going to learn Graham. I'm going to pray for Graham.
Speaker: I'm going to open up my Bible with Graham. I'm going to ask God boldly for things he can do. I'm going to celebrate what God does without making neurotypical the finish line. And I'm going to keep raising an autistic disciple. Because after four episodes and a thousand words, maybe this entire series really does come down to one sentence. I am more certain about my assignment than I am about the outcome.
Speaker: God gets the outcome. I get the assignment of raising an autistic disciple. You do not have to settle every question about autism and healing before you get busy with the Great Commission. you don't know how You don't have to know the outcome to obey the assignment.
Speaker: So pray, ask boldly, open up your Bible, learn your kid, trust God with what he hasn't revealed, and be faithful with what he has in his word.
Speaker: God gets the outcome. You get the assignment of raising an autistic disciple. Now go and raise that autistic disciple for God's glory your
