September 7, 1998, 10:10am. I remember the room - the smell of disinfectant, the unused positioning pads strewn on the floor, the faint music piped in through a small speaker next to the plastic wall clock, the drab green color of the walls - and the horrible sound of the MRI grinding and churning as it took picture after picture of my daughter's brain and spinal cord. Sitting in the hard plastic chair, all I could see of her was her big toe which, at the time, was illuminated by the red light of the blood oxygen sensor. I could envision the rest of her set-up though. Her head was being held to the wooden board she was lying on with pads that had been secured over her forehead with duct tape. Nylon straps, fastened tight enough to keep her from moving, held down the rest of her body. Not that moving was a concern. She had been administered a suppository sedative and I had watched her consciousness progress from screaming mad, to strangely silly, to a look of shear panic and an inability to understand what I had subjected her to just before she succumbed to the drug's effects.
And as I sat there, tears streamed down my face. Little did I know, as I prayed for God's peace and protection over my little girl and for this to all be over for her, that that this was the first of many such procedures that my daughter Surreia would have to undergo. Surreia showed signs of a developmental disability at the age of 4 months, but it was not until she reached age 4 that she received the diagnosis of Autism. Those first four years were a wild, out-of-control ride of testing, therapy, and specialist after specialist. The years following her diagnosis have been no different.
As our family has grown to accept and embrace Autism and its effects on us, God has begun to open our hearts to what He has to teach us through Surreia and other children and families affected by special needs. We have attempted to capture these 'lessons' in the Bible studies and music available here. We firmly believe that God has a purpose and plan for our lives; and through a combination of life experiences, prayer time, and Bible study, His plans become evident. We pray that God uses these studies and this music to open your heart to further reveal His love and His omniscience.
| Eric and Donna Bennett |  |
