Spiritual Training

Every night, I (or my husband) prays aloud with PJ5 before bed. He sometimes ignores, sometimes listens, and on rare occasions says "amen" after we finish. I also pray aloud for him when he gets hurt and is very upset (overreacts), asking Jesus to help him feel better. Sometimes I pray aloud when he's crying and I don't know why he is upset. It's a comfort to me, if not to him.

Last week, he got hurt. I don't remember how, and it wasn't very bad, but he went and laid on his bed and cried (as usual). I went in and was trying to comfort him and calm him. In the middle of his crying he blurted out "Jesus". I said, "Do you want to pray and ask Jesus to help you feel better?--Okay" (fyi--I often answer my own questions with only a short pause because he never answers.) So I began my short prayer and this is what happened.

Me: Dear Jesus,-
him: Jesus!
Me: help Paul John to feel better-
him: better!
Me: in Jesus' name-
him: Amen!
Me: Amen.

He interjected those words without me pausing, which I didn't do because he never responds. And he said amen before I did, but he knew it was coming because I always end my prayers "In Jesus' name, Amen." He also kind of blurted out each word, because he was still crying and sniffling. He did seem to calm down better after that, but I was a little in shock and went to find my husband and see if he was near enough to have heard.

I don't know if that counts as his first prayer or not, but I'm still glad it happened, and finally feel like some of the training he gets at home and church is actually sinking in.





(explanation: In case someone is reading this that doesn't know our situation, PJ5 is 7 years old, with autism, and very little language skills, though he has made some good progress in the last year.)