Strong and Courageous moves families touched by autism from spending their days grieving for what "could have been" to rejoicing in "what is".
This past year God laid it on my heart to write my book “Strong and Courageous: Encouragement for Families Touched by Autism.” Each chapter literally flowed from my heart because, as the grandmother of a child with autism, I am walking this journey along with thousands and thousands of families in the United States and in other countries across the world.
I had visitors from London in my home recently who shared their stories and experiences about children they know who have autism. The recent statistic in the United States seems to be one in sixty-eight children with autism – epidemic numbers compared to one in twenty-five hundred in the 1990’s.
My purpose is for this book to get into the hands of not only parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles of children with autism – but also into your hands – so that you can understand the needs of families touched by autism. I want you to be able to reach out to these families and be an extension of God’s love to them. And you can use “Strong and Courageous” to minister to them by putting a copy in their hands.
I also want our pastors and churches to become familiar with “Strong and Courageous” so they can form life groups, support groups, or small groups to minister to these families – to give them the opportunity to simply have discussions with others who are walking the same path they are on. I want them not to feel invisible in our churches but to know they are loved, cared about, and understood.
May God bless you as you not only read “Strong and Courageous” but as you also become an extension of Christ’s love to children and their families. As nothing stays the same for families after they are given their child’s diagnosis of autism, I believe you will also be changed by reading “Strong and Courageous.”
My prayer is that your heart will be touched as you develop a deeper understanding of autism and the impact it has, not only on a child, but also on his or her family. May God use “Strong and Courageous” for the purpose it was intended – to enrich all of our lives as we seek to minister to each other on this earth.
