We arrive home from school around
noon and I’m already tired as I change Asher’s pull-up and make his lunch. Then I once again hoist the weight of
his 50-pound body against mine, and I carry him to his high chair. 

He always immediately shouts out, “BOOOOK!”
And I of course oblige and read him the daily devotion from our toddler
devotion book. His eyes stay with me as I
read the verse for the day. My
daughter Eden and I say the prayer at the end of the devotion and we always end
with an “Aaaa…..” long pause giving Asher time to chime in with his loud and
proud, “MEN!” 

Immediately after Asher exclaims
“Cads!” I pull out the memory
verse cards.  

I say “1 John 4:16 says….?”

and Asher replies slowly,
deliberately, “Gah…. i… uv”  (God
is love). 

He always looks up with a great big
grin. I give him a high five as I
feel my throat close up and my eyes water–everyday. 

I started these lunchtime devotions
at the beginning of the new year for my 3-year-old daughter, Eden. Asher loves books, so I knew he
wouldn’t mind a bit of lunchtime reading. 
But I never thought with his severe cognitive delays and lack of speech,
he could know verses from the Bible, or that he could understand how to
communicate with God through prayer.  

A couple of months ago we had
guests over for dinner. Asher watched us all bow and pray over the meal. When the food had long been blessed,
Asher bowed his own head and folded his own tiny hands. 

He said something like, “Ga….ebu
jebu debus a awa ebu….MEN!” 

He looked up to a table full of
misty-eyed moms and dads. Our
guests marveled at the blessing of hearing Asher’s sweet voice talking to
God. No one at our table
understood the words he uttered in his prayer. Though it would seem clear that our Maker knows his every
utterance.

At bedtime we whisper prayers into
the night– the same prayer every night…

“Dear God, thank you for this day,
we pray that you would continue to grow Asher big and strong (Asher shows me
his muscle pose).

“We pray that you would keep Asher
healthy, and… (extra long pause). “…Ha-appy!” Asher says with his big
grin.  

We finish with our usual “Aaa” 

“…MEN.” 

My heart is full as I close his
door. I consider
Asher’s prayers a true gift daily bestowed upon me by the One who knows the
aches of my body and the pains of my heart.  

Asher is the son of a pastor, but I’m
afraid I never imagined him being able to have faith. I had imagined him someday being able
to walk, talk, read, and write. I
don’t know why, but I never thought about what his relationship with God could
look like. I never thought about
how his faith life might grow and encourage family, our friends and myself.

Asher’s eyes grow wide with
curiosity when I read Bible stories to him. He has a hunger and a thirst for knowing about Jesus. In his
own precious way at 6-years old, he is fostering a faith life all his own. Asher has proven to me time and again
that “Nothing is impossible with God.” And what a mighty God we serve, “Right
Asher?” 

His eyes do the talking that his lips cannot, “Of course mama”, as if
he has known this all along. 

I
never imagined that my son’s tiny hands would hold such a big faith. 

*Kristin Smith is the wife of Beau Smith, a Presbyterian
college pastor at California Polytechnic University.  She divides her time between being a pastor’s wife and a
mommy to Asher Gradon, their 6-year-old son, and Eden Grace, their 3-year-old
daughter.  Asher was born with a
condition affecting his muscles, cognitive abilities and his size. His
condition remains undiagnosed.  They
reside on the Central Coast of California.