Now employed in the emergency medical services field, David uses his gifts to make himself more aware of the conditions of his patients. At the scene of an accident, David first goes to the car to “sense” the seriousness of what has happened to the patient. From the residual energy in the vehicle, he can tell the degree of injury and determine what level of care the patient will require. Once with the patient, he checks the pulse to determine what the body is doing. While doing this, he actually sees the heart and how it beats. He sees the blood vessels as to whether they are relaxing or constricting. When he listens to people breathe, he can see how much of the lungs are opening up. The people who work with David have come to trust his “judgments.” David sees all this as being quite commonplace and does not understand why everyone cannot do it.
David continually explores furthering his gifts by trying to develop new ways to help. Currently he is trying to learn how to lessen pain for his patients as well as to facilitate their self-healing. Knowing what a particular drug would do for the body, he tries to give the body the same message himself to possibly prevent the need for the medication. He is not working on his other gifts at this time, except for his ability to find lost things, as this is a frequent problem for him!
Faith
Faith’s mother, Patricia, had prayed all her life that she be given a personal mission that would show her dear Lord how very deeply she loved Him. Once she dreamed that she stood holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. The top half of the blanket was pink; the other half was black, with stunningly brilliant stars shining on the black bottom part, as if in a night sky.
Throughout her life but especially after the breakup of her second marriage, Patricia found her faith sustained through daily contact with her Lord and also through the uplifting philosophies and messages of Edgar Cayce’s psychic readings. It was into this environment that her daughter, Faith, was born. Soon it became apparent that the baby had multiple disabilities—including hydrocephalus, developmental delays, impaired fine-motor coordination, and an inability to speak—along with constant crying and frequent vomiting. Patricia merely set an intention that her daughter was going to be well and vowed her dedication to help Faith be all that she could be.
When Faith was two years old, a neighbor warned Patricia that she had observed the child’s father on numerous occasions deliberately hurt the toddler whenever he was alone with her outdoors. Understanding the implications, Patricia realized that this marriage, too, would need to end. However, she also knew that at least one very precious part of the union would continue to be in her life—Faith.
Patricia worked two jobs to make ends meet. However, Faith continued to have frequent episodes of violent vomiting. Her frantic mother looked for some way to get medical help for her child, and eventually she found that the only way for Faith to have the help she needed was to give the child’s custodial rights over to the state. Through many hours spent in prayer with her Lord and despite countless tears, Patricia was at last able to do this, and she was also finally able to arrange for Faith’s placement in a well-rated residential school fifty miles away.
Because Patricia was determined to continue her close relationship with Faith in spite of the long work week and intervening miles, she put in many hours driving between her home and the school, spending every weekend with her daughter. Many times Patricia would bring Faith back home with her so that they could walk together along the beach and garner nature’s healing.
One morning Patricia awoke very early, knowing that she needed to go to Faith immediately. When she got to the living facility where Faith was the only female resident, Patricia found that the previous day’s aide, at the end of her shift, had simply gone home, leaving the disabled children in the cottage totally alone overnight, since no one had come in to supervise the next shift.
After making calls to all the listed emergency phone numbers without anyone ever answering, Patricia was furious as well as incredulous. Finally she was able to reach the school’s director and tell him about the untenable situation, but all she received for her pains were his anger and resentment, directed at her.
As quickly as possible, Patricia arranged for Faith to come back home to live, but unfortunately this meant that Patricia had to quit working in order to give Faith the home care she needed. Because of Faith’s continued chronic vomiting episodes, the children’s hospital became their second home. On several occasions, Faith and Patricia were sent to the psychiatric department of the hospital and Patricia was accused of abusing her daughter—with doctors pressing Patricia to admit that this was the source of Faith’s screaming and vomiting. If Patricia—who would have done anything to help her daughter—had possessed less strength or faith, these allegations would have completely crushed her. As it was, she was able to absorb them, fight to have her daughter’s real needs looked at, and pray, pray, pray. Her prayer was always, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Measuring multiple medications, enduring eleven extensive operations, experiencing Faith’s two clinical deaths—life for Patricia and Faith was anything but easy. Faith also had recurring bouts of hydrocephalus, which were eventually taken care of at Boston Hospital.
Nurses often tried to tell Patricia that Faith would never be well, but Patricia’s unshakable belief in her Lord and in His overarching divine plan for Faith’s life was so strong that she was able to muster the fight for what was needed and endure all negative comments. During the long stays at hospitals, Patricia always took Faith in her wheelchair for morning and afternoon strolls outside, so that Faith could experience the healing and beauty of nature.
Faith, as sick and weak as she often was, nevertheless continually smiled and smiled. Patricia let her mind go into an altered state to know what was needed, since Faith couldn’t communicate verbally to say what was wrong. Autism was the official label given to Faith by the medical community, and Patricia allowed this. Yet she still felt that some divine plan for her daughter was at work, coming through her dear Jesus. Patricia was convinced that if she had the faith to wait and listen, the answers would eventually come.
Previously, while living at the school, Faith had been taught a process known as Facilitated Communication, or FC. This procedure, brought to the school by a speech teacher, involved a facilitator lightly holding Faith’s wrist so that she could place her index finger on the letters of a computer keyboard, one after another, in order to communicate in typewritten words. Once Faith began to learn and practice the communication process, she relished the time spent with her facilitator. When Faith moved back into her mother’s home space, Patricia arranged for Faith’s facilitator at that time, Sarah, to come spend time with Faith, first at a local school and later at Patricia’s home. Faith was now able to communicate with the world and its people.
In the autumn of 2002, the break that Patricia had been seeking for years finally came. Through a local doctor, Faith was given three things: a name for her chronic difficulty (Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome, or CVS), a recommended doctor who was highly knowledgeable about the syndrome and could help with it (Dr. David Fleisher in Columbia, Missouri), and a combination of medications that could help alleviate the symptoms. For the first time in Faith’s nineteen years of life, the violent vomiting that had hospitalized her over and over again was in remission. She was also able to stop taking all the other drugs—eight or more—whose side effects had previously served to debilitate her functioning.
Just at this time, too, Patricia suggested that Faith and Sarah begin to explore Faith’s mission in her present life. The combined results were astounding. Without the constant vomiting, Faith could concentrate on important inner thoughts and concepts. Having Sarah come to Faith’s home meant that Faith felt safe and comfortable both with her longtime facilitator and in her own personal environment. Focusing on Faith’s mission in life added an even greater depth to the weekly sessions.
All of these factors allowed Faith to look more deeply within herself and to bring out the wisdom that she found there. Inspired by questions that Patricia and Sarah asked, Faith began to type page after page of information—messages that she says are her life’s mission and her gift to the world. Here are some of her communications:
“I would like it said that people are blocked by living—hurried up,