Authentic Voices:  A Fishing Boat With a Faith Lesson

Post Title:   Authentic Voices:  A Fishing Boat With a Faith Lesson.

God uses everything to grow our faith, even a simple Facebook message.

Seeking An Authentic Voice.

Shortly after my call for speakers on Autism in a local Facebook group, I received an angry message from Alice Halsey, who “friended” me by sending it. By the tone of her words, I’m still not sure that ‘friend’ is the right term.

“Have you ever thought about having someone with Autism speak instead of someone who has just worked with a person with Autism? A lot of us have voices and jobs. We just talk a little differently. You might be surprised. A lot of people have the same disorder. The only difference is that we have been labeled and the others haven’t.”

In fact, I was looking for a speaker who could share his or her personal experience in the field. I knew little to nothing about this topic. I trusted God would provide whoever was the most confident to speak and who could shed the most light on the issue. Perhaps she would volunteer? As an event coordinator, I was definitely teachable.

Her outrage rested on one key idea – a lot of us have voices and jobs. When I read that, I knew I was on the right track. My goal in putting together Disability inSIGHTS revolved around that theme. Voices. I wanted to give a platform to those who would share their voices. And jobs? As it was pointed out to me several months earlier, October served as National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

Though Mary did not step into my pool of speakers, I believe God sent her message to reassure me I could handle the task He gave me. I was out of my depth but determined to reach out to those with other disabilities to give more of us a voice.

At The Start.

I had been the project leader since mid-January, only because I approached a couple colleagues with my ideas to hold book signings and a speakers’ forum. Because of International Blindness Awareness Month, my initial idea was to highlight the accomplishments of blind and vision-impaired authors. But shortly after the onset of our planning, I challenged myself to go beyond my comfort zone and learn about the challenges of others with disabilities.

By August, my team crumpled leaving me in charge. Feeling very unsure of myself, I took on the task of interviewing the remaining speakers and publicizing our event. The Sight Center lent me strength and the Lions Club stepped in to offer suggestions at one of our meetings. I hired a business coach to guide me through the process. God also placed people in my life to offer encouragement as I handled the countless details that needed resolving.

To publicize the event, one of the speakers and I appeared on a community-based local program called The Insider Show.

It was very professionally done and went well. Now I can laugh when I recall the voice of Lisa Adams, the veteran news anchor when she asked me, “So how can people sign up to attend Disability InSIGHTS?” My memorable reply was, “Yes, we will have wonderful snacks!” Don’t ask me where that came from because I have no idea nor was I aware my answer did not match up with the question until I heard it for myself the next day. Is it a wonder anyone at all showed up? Strangely enough no one else caught that error. The audience was caught up in the underlying message.

We are all imperfect hearers and doers. What I have learned from listening to the One Voice who calls me to action and challenges me to Godly goals is to obey, then ask for repetition. And boy do I ask for a lot of repetition!

The night before the event, I didn’t have time to sleep and I panicked. “God, I think you chose the wrong voice to lead this event. What if I can’t do it?”

Disability InSIGHTS.

That morning, we loaded up the car and headed to the Tom Ridge Center. From the back seat, my brother’s voice seemed muffled and distant. When we neared our destination, almost by instinct, I placed my hand over one ear, then the other. I gulped. “Oh no! I forgot my hearing aids!” What a ghastly oversight!

After my brother dropped us off and unloaded the car, he turned around and drove thirty minutes home to retrieve my hearing aids and thirty minutes back to ensure I had what I needed.

Meanwhile, everyone took their seats and the audience was getting situated, I silently breathed a prayer and invited God into our midst. “Give me the words to say today. Be with each of our speakers. Let us all hear their voices, really listen to the challenges they have endured and the ones they continue to face with courage.” I paused. “Lord, whatever we lack today, give us in abundance.”

I started the seminar, and after our first speaker, my brother returned with my hearing aids. It definitely made me more sensitive to Emmanuel Lee, our deaf blind speaker with Usher Syndrome, whose journey touched the audience. His ongoing 12-year desire to find work tore at me. This is why we have a month dedicated to bringing awareness to the lack of employment for the nation’s disabled. Emmanuel longed to work and no one would give him the opportunity. Society must change their belief systems. That is why seminars like Disability InSIGHTS are so important.

Our final topic of the day featured our awesome team of Autism experts. One was a mother to teenage children coping successfully with Asperger’s, a PhD who had recently written a book on the topic, and a college student who had spoken numerous times about his journey. The mother had to leave unexpectedly. So the two men took the floor. They interacted beautifully together and we all learned a lot.  At the conclusion of our event, after the gifts I had purchased for my speaking team were distributed, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Personal Insights.

Looking back, I felt much like how I imagine Peter, the apostle in biblical times, must have felt when Jesus spent the night on his boat with him. For the previous few days, the Bible states Peter’s fishing nets returned to shore empty at the close of day.  But when Jesus went out on the boat with Peter overnight, the time of day when fish don’t even bite, by the following morning, amazingly, the empty boat was laden to overflowing with fish.

Disability InSIGHTS was my fishing boat. For months, I had tried to interest others in attending it but to little avail. However, with God’s presence in our boat that Friday, I pulled it into shore laden, and overflowing with compassion, goodwill and new understanding. With our net cast out to our audience, our first disability awareness seminar turned out to be a huge success!

I can’t help but recall my inaudible prayer at the start of the seminar, “God, whatever we lack, please give it to us from your abundance.” Friends, I learned even my biggest effort is like child’s play to God. I had to plan for it. But the results didn’t rest on my shoulders, even though I thought it did.  God is the one who prepares hearts and chooses the right people to speak. He prepares the platform and we bring the voices.

Alice Halsey came to mind again. She desperately wanted me to use the voice of experience to represent the life of those with Autism. How much more does God want us to share the voice of our experience with him, what our life is like as we become more aware of his protective presence.

God has not set aside any special month to bring him awareness. Instead, every day he invites believers to live out our best lives. He speaks to our hearts inaudibly. We become his voices, his hands, his feet, his taste and even his aroma.

It states this clearly in the Bible. Alice Halsey’s desire for an authentic voice of experience to emerge in Autism awareness has stayed with me. God impassions us to use our abilities to create positive change. The more we listen to his inner voice, the more authentic our own voices become.

You have just read “Authentic Voices:  A Fishing Boat With a Faith Lesson” by Amy L. Bovaird. © November 5, 2019. All rights reserved.

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