Lamar Hardwick's Blog, page 5

Autism, Disability & The Church: A Vision for Diversity & Inclusion – Dr. Lamar Hardwick – Mike Delgado –

Autism, Disability & The Church: A Vision for Diversity & Inclusion – Dr. Lamar Hardwick – Mike Delgado –
— Read on www.mikedelgado.org/podcast/lamar-hardwick/

10 things you need to know about the things you will never know.

“He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Master GOD, only you know that.”” Ezekiel 37:3 MSG

One of the most striking stories/images in the Bible is the story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones.

There are many things that strike me as strange and significant about this story, but perhaps the most interesting part of Ezekiel’s interaction with God is his acknowledgment of his limited knowledge.

When asked about the potential for recovery and resurrection of the bones in the valley, Ezekiel admits that there are somethings that only God knows the answer to.

We crave knowledge. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but in the end we have to admit that there are somethings that we can never know. We also have to learn to live with the unknown.

Over the last several months I’ve had to learn to live with this. As someone who loves knowledge and loves learning this is a challenge for me. Being autistic also feeds my need for knowledge. I like to know everything that I can about an environment. I don’t like ambiguity and I hate surprises. I need to know what’s happening. But the reality is there are somethings I can never know.

So what do you do when you realize there are somethings that you will never know the answer to?

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Here are 10 things I learned over the last several months that have helped me.

1. Knowledge isn’t always power. You can’t always outsmart trouble.

2. Knowledge isn’t always protection. Just because you’re knowledgeable doesn’t mean you’re invincible.

3. Trust requires uncertainty. It isn’t actually trust if you can predict the outcome.

4. Obedience assumes disagreement. It isn’t obedience unless you don’t want to do what you’re instructed to do but you do it anyway.

5. Miracles don’t erase mortality. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but Lazarus is still dead.

6. You can’t plan for something that you didn’t know was possible. Let yourself off the hook. You’re not failing. You’re actually flourishing.

7. Uncertainty isn’t a license to be unwise.

8. Don’t overestimate what you would do about things you’ve never experienced. Everyone is a novice at new experiences.

9. Faith doesn’t require details. Faith isn’t built on certainty it’s built by embracing mystery.

10. An unquestioned faith is an untrustworthy faith. Real faith can handle the weight of critical thinking.

ERLC | How can churches be more inclusive of disabled persons?

Here’s a bee article/interview about my new book Disability And The Church. Click the link below to check it out!

ERLC | How can churches be more inclusive of disabled persons?
— Read on erlc.com/resource-library/articles/how-can-churches-be-more-inclusive-of-disabled-persons/

Hiding Places

Good morning fight club. Today is my final chemotherapy treatment! In the days to come I will have several appointments. We will do new scans before returning to my surgeon to plan the final phase of treatment which will be surgery. I remain hopeful and I am confident that God is in control.

Pray this with me today.

“But the Lord is my fortress; my God is the mighty rock where I hide.”

Psalms 94:22 NLT

Gracious and eternal God thank you for another beautiful day. This is the day that you have made and I rejoice and I am glad for this day. Father thank you for your presence and protection. Today God I thank you especially for being our refuge. God I thank you for being our hiding place.

God today as I receive my last chemotherapy treatment I pray for your healing hand to be a fortress that protects my heart, mind, and body. Protect me from further sickness. Protect my body from the cancer. Use the doctors and medicine to bring healing and use your hand to protect me. Your name is a strong tower and I will seek safety in you.

Lord today I pray for your servants. I pray for all those who are struggling and suffering. God I pray for all those who have been scorched by the sun bearing down on their backs as they have traveled through the rough terrain called life. God I pray for those who have had their weary hearts exposed to the elements for far too long. God be their refuge. God I pray that you provide them with the safety and security that comes from seeking refuge in your shadow. God help them to receive freedom from the bondage of shame by seeking the only place that is truly safe to hide and that is in you. Satan today I stand against the spirit of shame, condemnation, and guilt that you have used to shame God’s people into hiding. No mistake is more powerful than the blood of Jesus that was shed for our forgiveness. We stand covered by the sacrifice of Jesus and we are accepted by God because of his sacrifice. Satan I stand on God’s word that God is our hiding place. His shadow is our safety. His name is a strong fortress and is our place of rest and refuge and we will run to it. God I pray today for all those who have sought refuge in any place but you. God I pray that you hide those who are hurting and those who are hunted in the shadow of your wings. Remind them that you are their rock and their refuge. Provide safety and shelter from harsh words, unnecessary criticism, judgement, condemnation, and plots and schemes. God hide the hearts of your people beneath the shadow of your wings that bring healing, hope, and happiness. Lord for those who struggle with self worth because of the words someone has spoken over their life in the days of their youth, I pray for freedom from that yoke and for restoration of their heart today in Jesus name. God I pray for those with a history of being abused that you would set them free from guilt and shame today and guide them to safety in your shadow. Heal their hearts, repair their minds, strengthen their resolve, and bless their future. God I pray today that your people experience complete freedom from the damage of past pain and we lay claim to the victory that is found in your name and in your promises. God we declare today that the only place we will hide is in your shadow, behind our faith which is your fortress, and underneath your wings which helps us win victory.

In Jesus name.

Now available everywhere books are sold!

Check out my recent interview with Alexis!

Click the link below!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/that-makes-total-sense/id1478826581

Welcome | All Access Disability Conference – Houston, TX

I’ll be the keynote for this virtual conference! Tickets are now on sale for only $20! You get lifetime access to all the sessions. Use the code “Lamar” and get $5.00 off! Register today!

Welcome | All Access Disability Conference – Houston, TX

Sandra Peoples and Tiffany Crow believe every family deserves access to the gospel, a church family, and community resources.
— Read on www.allaccesshtx.com/

Disability and The Church Interview.

Check out a recent interview about my new book!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ministry-collaborative-podcast/id1514008332

Autism, Sensory Processing, And Cancer Symptoms: Why I knew I had cancer and what you should know too.

*This post hasn’t been edited for grammar. These are my raw thoughts. Editing will be done at a later time*

On October 2nd I woke up from anesthesia to hear these words. “I’m 90% sure the mass is cancerous.”

This is after I went to see my doctor a week earlier and requested a colonoscopy. Eventually, I would have to do more extensive testing like CT scans, MRI’s and another colonoscopy to get a more conclusive sample of tissue that actually contained cancer. (The first colonoscopy only captures precancerous samples).

When I heard those words I knew my surgeon was right. I felt it in my gut. I had spent most of 2020 on edge. Not only was I contending with Covid like everyone else in the world, but I was also in contention with a premonition.

You see I KNEW something big was coming. Something dangerous and possibly life-threatening. I have a sixth sense that way. It’s hard to explain but it’s true. I can feel it and it’s not just in my head, my entire body sends me signals of danger months before things happen.

Is it some supernatural intervention? Perhaps, but I attribute some of my extreme sensitivity to attributes closely related to my autism. Let me explain.

I have sensory processing challenges. This means that I see, hear, taste, and sometimes touch the world in ways that others don’t. My brain doesn’t regulate and filter out unnecessary sights, sounds, and smells. If I could quantify it I would say my senses are 1000 times more receptive than most.

Often times this can be problematic, but this post isn’t about the problems with sensory processing it’s about the way it informs my body about things in real-time.

Because I am so sensitive to the things around me my body is also super sensitive to the things inside me. I don’t get sick often because I have a super immune system. I’ve never had chickenpox as a kid even though I was constantly exposed. My doctor once told me that I most likely did get the virus but my immune system eradicated it before I experienced systems.

My point is that sensory processing issues also mean that my body is just as sensitive to foreign invaders as my brain is to sensory input. A few years ago I literally felt a virus coming on days before any symptoms. I felt it invading my body.

I went to the clinic with no fever, aches, chills, or any other signs of flu and tested negative. I told them to run the test again. After taking 20 minutes of more questions they retested me and it showed positive for Flu A. But barely. The nurse practitioner said that it seemed that it was just starting to show enough to yield a positive result.

There’s a not so known branch of science that studies something called body mapping. I’m still doing my research so I’m not an expert, but what I have found is that as early as infants we began to flail our arms and legs around as a means of the brain starting to develop an understanding of where our bodies began and end. It’s also why you will see young babies start to notice when a foreign object is placed on them such as a sticker on the forehead or a hat and gloves. Their first instinct is to take it off, recognizing that the object is not part of their body.

This scientific study has been aiding with research for disabled persons who have lost limbs. It is helping to explain phenomena like phantom pain and how the body adjusts to the placement of artificial limbs. It’s fascinating stuff really, but I’m a nerd. I digress.

I bring the issue of body mapping to the conversation because I believe that my sensory sensitivity causes a form of internal body mapping that allows me the ability to feel foreign invaders inside my body.

My body is in constant conversation with me about what’s inside of it because quite frankly it’s extremely sensitive to sensory input and new sensory changes internally.

Prior to my cancer diagnosis in October I had just had my annual physical with a complete workup. I was given a clean bill of health. Just a few weeks later I began to have cancer symptoms, the primary one being blood in my stool.

But if I were honest, I think my body was having a conversation with me before the external symptoms.

What I’m about to say maybe TMI for some so feel free to drop out now.

If you’re still here then you’re doing so at your own risk.

A few weeks prior to noticing blood in my stool I noticed that my body chemistry was changing. How?

I have a unique sense of smell due to my sensory processing issues. What that means is that I can smell things others can’t. Similar to how blind people can pick up on the fragrances of the people they are around, or how dogs have been known to be able to detect cancer in humans by their incredible sense of smell, I can too.

It’s weird I know. But it’s true. My sensory sensitivity can differentiate between orders. I know people’s “scent.” Every human has a unique scent, and I can smell it, including my own.

That means that I also know my scent when I have a bowel movement and long before the blood showed up, my body chemistry changed because my body was telling me that we have a foreign invader. I could actually smell the difference.

Here’s the moral of the story. We all map our bodies at a young age. Our brains and bodies draw boundaries to protect us from foreign invaders both externally and internally. For me, autism has afforded me with the ability to be ultra-sensitive to when those boundaries are crossed but you don’t have to be autistic to be in conversation with what your body is telling you.

Be kind to your body by paying attention to the boundaries it has developed because believe me it will tell you when something is wrong by the way your gut feels, or the pain you feel, or the headaches you’ve been having, or the way your body chemistry is changing.

Take notes. Journal about changes. Establish patterns and norms. Know your body and how it works and how it’s supposed to work and don’t get used to feeling bad. Your body may be talking to you. Listen up and save your own life.

Now available everywhere books are sold!

Random Mind Dump

Some things really are simple. Don’t over complicate things.

There’s at least 3 moves you need to make right now. Stop waiting. Life is short.

Be good to you.

Watch what you watch. Everything doesn’t require your attention.

Balance is a myth. Do the best you can.

You couldn’t have possibly known THAT was going to happen. Let yourself off the hook.

Eat dessert often.

Ask for help. Stubbornness hinders success.

Take a long nap. Trust me.

Go to the doctor.

Drink more water. Your body will thank you.

Pray more. You’re not doing it nearly as much as you should.

Sing out loud every day. It will help your heart.

Live life like there’s life left to be lived.

Cultural Bias and Disability: We have to do better with Children of Color | The Art of Autism

Lamar Hardwick, The Autistic Pastor, talks about growing up Black, cultural camouflage and cultural bias and disability
— Read on the-art-of-autism.com/cultural-bias-and-disability-we-have-to-do-better-with-children-of-color/