How my daughter’s speech delay has changed my preaching
I want others to know the power of the gospel the same way she does.
It’s your usual during-church craziness: my three-year-old daughter drawing and making train sounds with her Thomas toy, the baby crawling up and down the pews, both children stealing toys from each other, and all the while I’m making feeble attempts to worship.
On top of that, as my husband led worship, our daughter was saying over and over again, “Up,” ”Daddy,” and “Peace.” Her speech is delayed, and many weeks she’ll have a new word after weeks of repeating sounds and phrases. She also likes to say her letters and will ask me to write the letters she can say. From our pew you can hear “O,” “P,” and “B.” Her speech delay also means she has no volume control.
Often I’m anxious and self-conscious about the attempts she makes to talk. I worry about the disruption we cause in church, thinking that the pastor’s child—of all children—should be able to sit quietly in church.
