as we jumped in the 15 person van to head back to the nursing home last week, my heart leapt with joy. earlier this month, I met a man there in his 40s who appeared to have down syndrome. if y’all don’t know, my heart and desire in life is to work with adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. I was immediately drawn to him and his story, so without further ado — meet ChanChan.
A sweet elderly man nearby desperately tried to tell me every few minutes, “¡él no habla, no habla!” — meaning ChanChan is nonverbal. But what is commonly misunderstood {or even looked on as intimidating} is that nonverbal does not equal non-communicative, and that is uber important to me.
Our group started off our time there with skits, encouraging words, and worship songs in Spanish. As we sang “Open the Eyes of my Heart”, I noticed that my new friend began to sway in his seat as a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. I clung to this, and as soon as we finished, I sat back down with him and took his hand. I began to tap on his fingers as I had the week before, seeking a physical response. While doing so, God placed it on my heart to sing. And y’all, this girl can’t sing to save her life. I sound like a dying cat…but it’s fine. Setting aside my hesitancy, I began to sing him the song that our group had just played. As I finished, there was no response. But God prompted me to sing again, and as I did, ChanChan looked up, made eye contact with me, and smiled as a tear fell from his eye.
Y’all. I lost it here. ChanChan couldn’t communicate with words, but God showed me a way to connect to this man’s heart.
God is a creative God who loves to speak to the hearts of His children, and He is faithful to respond when we call out.
but does that always look the same?
can He not speak to us through ‘God-winks’ (little moments where He makes his presence known), through others, through the beauty of creation, through His word, and through so many other avenues that speak to each of His children differently? Just as ChanChan communicated through different means and God placed it on my heart to seek those out, God desires to speak to us in ways that our hearts will understand and recognize.
Learning to tune into God’s voice is a process. It takes sitting in His presence and being attentive to how He moves and the ways in which He is intimately involved in each moment. Sometimes He may clearly state the path we are to take or clearly whisper words of comfort to our hearts, but often His voice comes in so many other forms. May we intentionally cup our ears and open our eyes to the voice of our sweet Abba. The enemy likes to tell us over and over, “¡Él no habla, no habla!”; remind yourself in those moments when God seems to be nonverbal that it does not equal non-communicative.
