Tag Archives: Spiritual Autism

Experiencing the God of hope in the prison of spiritual autism…Dave Lynden

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Dr. G

Being the parent of a special needs child is often a journey of constant despair. You ache for the many things your child will probably never enjoy or experience. With autism, you pine for some kind of deeper connection that you know will always be impaired. Sometimes, it can feel like a kind of prison. But, in this small moment, I suddenly realized that God was taking my routines and trying to break through to connect with me. With this little crack in the wall, I could feel God burrowing through the walls of hopelessness with a small glimmer of a promised world renewed; of a deep blue Pacific Ocean, of a place where the bars and cement block walls that kept me away from my son and kept me away from my God would one day crumble to dust. Continue reading →

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The Whispers of Hope…Dave Lynden

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Dr. G

It seems as though God uses my own routines to insert little opportunities for me to break free from my spiritual autism and see true hope. I caught one of these moments while putting Micah to bed one evening. I caught another moment sitting in the living room just after tucking him and his siblings in for the night and watching one of my favorite movies…for the twelfth time. Continue reading →

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The power of stories…Dave Lynden

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Dr. G

So here was my little guy, Micah, standing in front of the TV, wrapped in his royal blue fleece blanket jumping up and down, clapping and laughing as he watched his favorite stories over and over again, reminding me of what I do, what we do, how we strive to fill in the puzzle pieces and reach for something that brings all of the stories together into a coherent whole. Continue reading →

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Obsessing on the story…Dave Lynden

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Dr. G

The “spiritual autism” that isolates us from others is penetrated, in part, by a story God has weaved into the fabric of our very being. And in that sense, it is not only we who are obsessing over a story, but God who is drawing us in- connecting with us, telling us we are part of the story! Continue reading →

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Exercises for overcoming our spiritual autism…Dave Lynden

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Dr. G

One of the biggest red flags of spiritual autism is the inability to be still, to quiet oneself, to set aside the compulsive need to occupy all space with an activity or with sound. The din of such frenzied activity actually drowns out the possibility of connecting with God. It exchanges fluidity with God to a static system. Continue reading →

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Becoming more fluid in our relationship with God…David Lynden

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Dr. G

Many of us often relate to God through a series of activities. We read our Bibles. We pray. We show up on Sunday morning and maybe put some money in the plate. Perhaps we are even involved in some ministries. And yet, like Tom, many of us also feel like this is an “on-paper” relationship with God. We could walk through the whole routine and never make “eye contact”, so to speak, with God. It feels more like an equation than it does a give-and-take fluid system of communication. It can feel choreographed, routine, static and…well, empty. Continue reading →

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David Lynden…Connecting with God through the routines of life

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Dr. G

There is something more about the gift of routines: they can create a contrast to help us see what might be considered small and insignificant. One of the mantras of wisdom that our autism support group used to rehearse is to celebrate the small, incremental progressions of our children with autism. And they were easier to see because the routines make them stand out so much more than our typical children. Continue reading →

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Guest Blogger Dave Lynden…Remembering How the Story Began

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Dr. G

On the Labor Day weekend of 2010, I found myself- yet again- living the story of the Scriptures while on a trampoline with my beautiful little boy who was soaking in the unadulterated one-on-one time he had with his dad. Continue reading →

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