The Blue Ridge Gospel Showcase with Donna, Ben & Greg BRGS #133

Southern Branch Bluegrass & Gospel Music Radio

Donna -My son Ben was born in 1994 to a Mom who was an insulin dependent diabetic and had already lost another child at 12 weeks ….1 1/2 prior to Ben’s birth. When Ben was born he was perfectly healthy and mine and Greg’s bundle of Joy. As he grew of course as a Mom and a teacher I watched and monitored his growth and milestones. At age one he was babbling and saying Mama and Dada and then all of a sudden that just stopped and he stopped giving us eye contact and started pushing us away. Red flags started going off in my mind and I talked to his pediatrician and he said not to worry that it would come. Well… it continued to get worse and by age 2 1/2 our baby was diagnosed with moderate-severe Autism. Our whole world felt like it had crumbled around us. The hopes and plans and dreams we had dreamed for Ben were shattered. After a major pitty party and questioning God, Greg and I both prayed for the Lords strength and for God to use our test as a testimony. As we watched Ben grow we noticed that he loved music and was fascinated with guitars. We bought every kind of toy musical instrument he would even act like he was interested in. When he was 8 years old we bought him his first real child size guitar. He would strum it and try to chord it and absolutely loved it! I told him as he grew that if he would learn to play I would get him a nice guitar. As he grew all our Christmases became musical. He asked for different instruments each Christmas and his Granny, his Aunt Vickie and other members of our family would always get Ben something musical for his gift. Some friends of ours got Ben a DVD that had several lessons for beginners on how to play the guitar. Ben would go in his room and go through each lesson until he had it and then move on to the next lesson. By age 14 Ben had mastered all lessons and was playing on his own. A dear friend of our, Barry Scott helped him with his timing and rhythm. In the meantime I had showed Ben some chords on the piano and he began playing piano as well. So in 2012 after not being on the road singing for almost 9 years, I felt God calling us back into a ministry. We formed The Journeys. I sing, Ben plays, and my husband Greg speaks about raising a child with Autism. Ben is amazing and has been a blessing to so many. Without God nothing is possible but with God all things are possible. We thank God for our blessings every day!