Combined Palm Sunday worship service
Andrew and Emma Faye work
together in a hearing aid fitting
session. Andrew won the ReSound
hearing aid at the annual Aid the
Silent 5K which were generously
donated by our business partner,
Ear Institute of Texas.
SPIRITUAL EARS
Local ministry brings Word of God to the deaf
BY AMY MORGAN
F R E E L A N C E W R I T E R
We can close our eyes to imagine
living without sight, but it is much
more difficult to disconnect from our
sense of sound. Hearing is so integral
to our experience of the world. It is
almost impossible to comprehend the
lack experienced by those diagnosed as
deaf or hard of hearing.
Emma Faye Rudkin identifies firsthand,
because she has been profoundly
deaf since a high fever robbed her of
almost all hearing by the age of three.
Like many deaf children, she battled
not only to learn language, but with
self-image and despair. Although she
was raised in a Christian home, Emma
Faye felt broken and rejected by God.
She tried to hide her “ugly” hearing
aids and was ashamed by others’
perceptions of her disability.
“Deaf teens often struggle with
depression,” she says. “They feel
overlooked and disconnected from
people — like they are just floating by.
Without the ability to communicate,
they feel unknown and unloved.”
Emma Faye’s parents aggressively
pursued all modalities that offered
promise to help her navigate in a
hearing world. She started
speech therapy at age three and
pursued it for 10 years. All that
time, she practiced in front of a
mirror for hours with a speech
therapist to form her sounds
correctly. She learned to read
lips and used the latest hearing
aids and technology to boost
her ability to respond to auditory
cues. By age 14, Emma Faye
was tired of missing out on truly
living. She signed herself up for
Camp Travis, a Christian camp.
She was hurt and angry and tired of
living that way.
That experience changed her life.
“I started viewing life through the
lens of Jesus and His love that changes
everything,” she says. “God showed me
that I am not alone in my personal
struggles, but that everyone has a
battle to fight.”
Emma Faye and Jhojan take a moment in time to understand
each other without a word. Aid the Silent provides, through
one of its four programs, resources for the deaf.
August / September 2019 www.saBeacon.com 4
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