As I walked into the open room filled with people, silence filled my ears. Everywhere I looked life was happening. There were expressions and motions that communicated more deeply than words and noises.
My heart filled with joy as I took in the sights of people reuniting and catching up after being away from each other for a week.
It was my first experience in a Deaf church…not only that but a Spanish Sign language (SSL) church.
They don’t know really anything about Karen’s life. She is deaf and has had no way to communicate for the past 21 years (that is their guess on how old she is). But Tony gets things done! He already has a lady who is coming once a week to teach her SSL. They want to get her able to eventually go to a SSL school and learn a trade.
Can you imagine having no way of communication from birth to learning a way to share for the first time?!!?
That just blows my mind. We long to be known; we want to be understood. We desire to share our lives with each other. How do we do this? By communicating!
Karen’s life is drastically changing. For the first time she is able to start to share things. Now this is going to be a long process because it is a whole new concept.
They have great prayers and hopes for her. The first hope is that she will be able to communicate, so that her story can be told, and so she will know how loved she is by Jesus. The second hope is for her to be independent and learn a trade.
We have no idea where she has been and what has happened to her. She has “burn� marks all over her body. One day I was lying in a hammock with her gesturing away. Some of the things she gestured to me were super sad if they mean what I think they meant.
I feel so blessed by God that I have gotten to be a part of her life! Every Monday I join the lessons with her to learn SSL. I LOVE IT! Tony has asked me to teach her how to make bracelets. What?!?! How cool is that!!! I am just a little excited about this 🙂. I LOVE how God works. Just 2 weeks ago Karen showed up here and 1 week ago I came here. God lets us be a part of each other’s lives!
