ABOUT THE BOOK
Every Journey Begins With A Question
Has Jesus truly changed me? That question became the heartbeat of Changed and the reason this book was written.
"Jesus did not come to make us a better version of ourselves. He came to make us new."
Changed was written from a deeply personal place. It is a journey through faith, identity, autism, struggle, surrender, and the transforming power of Jesus Christ. This book was born from the realization that being different and being changed are not the same thing. I have spent much of my life knowing what it feels like to experience the world differently, to process things differently, and to be misunderstood because of those differences. Yet through my relationship with Jesus Christ, I have learned that my differences do not determine my worth, and they do not have to keep me from becoming everything God has called me to be.
The inspiration for the title and central theme of this book was shaped in part by the song Different by Christian recording artist Micah Tyler. Its message caused me to think more deeply about what it means to live differently and, more importantly, what it means to allow Jesus Christ to change me. The song helped me recognize that the question was never simply whether I was different from other people. I already knew that I was. The deeper question was whether Jesus was changing me from the inside out.
That distinction became the foundation of Changed. I am not writing this book because autism needs to be erased, nor because being different is something that should make a person ashamed. Autism is part of my story and part of how I experience the world, but it is not the measure of my identity. My identity is found in Jesus Christ. The change I am writing about is the work He does within the heart as we surrender ourselves to Him.
Why This Book Was Written
Every believer eventually reaches a place where faith becomes deeply personal. There comes a moment when we must look beyond appearances, traditions, routines, and the expectations of other people and honestly ask whether our lives truly reflect Jesus Christ. That question became the beginning of this book.
For years, I believed many of life's greatest struggles centered around the fact that I felt different. As an autistic person, I have often experienced life from a perspective that other people did not immediately understand. The way I process information, respond to situations, communicate, and experience the world has sometimes made me feel separated from people around me. There have been moments when I wondered why things that seemed simple for others could feel so complicated for me, and there have been times when being misunderstood made me question where I belonged.
Yet God began teaching me that being different does not mean being forgotten. It does not mean being less valuable, less capable, or less loved. It does not mean that I have to become someone else in order to be accepted by God. Instead, He began showing me that I could bring my whole self, including the parts of my story that others might not understand, into a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.
The greatest need was never to become someone else.
The greatest need was to become more like Jesus Christ.
That realization reshaped the way I viewed my own journey. I began to understand that autism could help explain parts of my experience, but it could never define the entirety of who I am. The opinions of other people could not define me either. My circumstances could not define me. My failures could not define me. My struggles could not define me. My identity has always been found in Christ, and that truth became one of the deepest foundations of Changed.
Jesus does not ask us to pretend that our struggles do not exist. He does not require us to hide the ways in which we experience life differently. Instead, He invites us to surrender our hearts to Him and allow Him to transform the parts of our lives that need to be surrendered, corrected, healed, strengthened, and brought into obedience to His will.
WHAT THIS BOOK IS
A Journey Of Transformation
This book is an invitation to examine the heart through the light of God's Word and to become honest about what Jesus is doing within us.
It is also a personal reflection on what it means to follow Jesus while living with the reality of being different, misunderstood, and sometimes unable to fit comfortably into the expectations that others place upon us.
Most importantly, it explores what happens when we stop trying to become acceptable to everyone around us and instead surrender ourselves completely to Jesus Christ.
This is not a book about self improvement, positive thinking, or becoming different simply for the sake of standing out. It is not a book suggesting that autism is a problem that Jesus needs to remove before a person can be spiritually mature. It is a testimony that Jesus can meet us exactly where we are and still call us into deeper faith, greater obedience, genuine surrender, and a life that increasingly reflects Him.
Being autistic does not excuse sin, just as being neurotypical does not prevent sin. Every person has a heart that needs Jesus. Every person needs grace. Every person needs forgiveness. Every person needs the transforming work of God. The way we experience the world may be different, but our need for Jesus is the same.
That is why this book is ultimately not about autism. It is about Jesus Christ. Autism is part of my testimony, part of my perspective, and part of the story God has allowed me to live, but Jesus is the center of the story. He is the One who has taught me that I do not have to become someone else's version of normal in order to belong to Him.
DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN FORGOTTEN
God Can Use The Way He Created You
There were times when I wished I could simply understand people the way they seemed to understand one another, respond to situations without becoming overwhelmed, or move through life without constantly wondering whether I was being misunderstood. Over time, however, I began to realize that God was not asking me to spend my entire life trying to become someone else.
He was asking me to become more like Jesus.
That does not mean that every struggle disappears. It means that I no longer have to believe my struggles are the final word about who I am. Jesus can teach me how to love when I feel misunderstood, how to forgive when I have been hurt, how to remain truthful when compromise seems easier, and how to trust Him when I cannot understand what He is doing.
A NEW CREATION
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17
One Question Remains
As you prepare to begin this journey, I encourage you to pause and honestly examine your own heart. You may be different from me in countless ways. You may have a completely different story, a different personality, different struggles, and different experiences. None of that changes the question at the center of this book.
Has Jesus truly changed me?
The question is not simply whether your life looks different from someone else's life. It is whether Jesus Christ is changing the person you are becoming. It is whether your relationship with Him is shaping your thoughts, your choices, your relationships, your responses, your obedience, and the desires of your heart.
If that question leads you to know Jesus Christ more deeply, trust Him more completely, and surrender your life more fully to His grace, then this book has fulfilled the purpose for which it was written.
MY PRAYER
More Than Finishing A Book
My hope is not that you simply finish another Christian book. My prayer is that you encounter Jesus Christ in a deeper way than ever before and that you become willing to let Him continue the work He has begun in you.
I want you to know that being different does not make you forgotten, being misunderstood does not make you worthless, and having a different way of experiencing the world does not place you outside the reach of God's grace.
My prayer is that you will discover that you do not have to become someone else to be loved by Jesus. You simply have to surrender yourself to Him and allow Him to change what only He can change.
Because the greatest story any of us will ever tell is not how we changed ourselves. It is how Jesus Christ changed us.
Welcome To Changed.
This is not simply a journey about being different. It is a journey toward becoming changed by Jesus Christ while learning to live honestly in the story God has given each of us.