It was meant as a reward for good behaviour but when my son, Joshua, was confronted with row upon row of his favourite action figure at our local toy store, he went into sensory overload, which degenerated into kicking and screaming. I was in the middle of trying to calm him down when a woman passed us and muttered something about controlling my child.

Joshua suffers from autism, which was diagnosed when he was five years old, though I'd had my suspicions before that. He'd have screaming fits if his sandwich was cut differently from the day before, and he had problems dealing with social situations.

While the diagnosis of autism was a relief in many ways—we finally knew what was wrong with him—it also presented its own set of difficulties, as that day in the store demonstrated.

Back to School
My priority had always been Joshua but I'd felt God's call to become a full-time minister since my 20s. As the child of Salvation Army members, I'd grown up in a religious family but when I'd married, I'd shelved those dreams. After my husband and I divorced, though, I couldn't ignore God any longer. I decided to enter The Salvation Army's College for Officer Training (CFOT) in Winnipeg to become a pastor.

But not without misgivings! Joshua doesn't handle change well. We'd be moving to a strange new place and he'd be far away from the large family support network we had in Georgetown, Ont., where we'd been living with my father and stepmother since my divorce. How would all these changes impact my son?

I couldn't run away from God, though. He'd been too patient and persistent. So I applied to CFOT and I was accepted in the autumn of 2008.

Support and Encouragement
Whatever apprehensions I had started to dissipate that summer. The college administration went out of their way to smooth the path for Joshua and me, allowing us to move into our quarters a month early, all the better for Joshua to become familiar with his surroundings.

Complete strangers took an immediate interest in Joshua. On the first day of class, a couple from Bermuda approached me in the hall. They didn't know me but had heard about Joshua's special needs.

“We just wanted you to know that we're here to support you in any way we possibly can,” they told me. “Where Joshua is concerned, don't be afraid to call on us.”

A Child Blossoms
While I was thrilled to be at CFOT, I still fretted about how Joshua would react. We experienced a few difficulties in getting Joshua settled in school, but even at that, Joshua's transition occurred far quicker and far more smoothly than I had dared hope.

Joshua blossomed at CFOT. Because of his social deficiencies, he'd never made friends easily, nor had he ever been interested in birthday parties or play dates.

But Joshua's social skills grew in the community atmosphere at the campus. He went from barely grunting at my fellow students to actually initiating conversation with them on a daily basis.

Soon after our arrival, he struck up a friendship with schoolmates whose parents were fellow students of mine. The continuity that CFOT afforded enabled him to make friends for the first time in his life.

Soon, children would knock on our door asking to play with Joshua, or he'd go over to somebody else's house to play.

Joshua has grown spiritually as well. Under the tutelage of Debbie Clarke, his Sunday school teacher, my son finally started to enjoy class. He was even willing to dress up as a shepherd and stand in front of the chapel audience during the CFOT Christmas pageant this past year and has taken part in the youth church services.

I had enrolled at CFOT for my own development but I've come to realize that Joshua benefited from his time there as much as I did. Its unique environment allowed growth that might never have happened for Joshua otherwise. As I prepare to become a pastor, I'm hoping that he will be a part of my ministry in some small way.

Home at Last
A telling incident for me occurred the first time we travelled back to Ontario for the Christmas holidays after moving to CFOT in August 2008. We were returning to Winnipeg and as the plane touched down, Joshua looked at me and said, “It's so nice to be home.”

My boy is 11 years old now and he's looking forward to what God has in store for both of us. This month, I will be assigned to a church. Before, I would have looked upon this with trepidation, but now that Joshua has managed one transition, he seems quite content about the move to come.

“Where are we going, Mom?” he asked me. I said I didn't know yet. While CFOT is home now, and we love it here, home is not a place so much as where we both are. And Joshua is just fine with that.