Speech Therapy?

My little 2 year old has a bit of a speech delay; he is 28 months and has the vocabulary/speech level of an 18 month old. In a couple weeks he will see our family doctor to reevaluate his speech delay and decide where to go from here. It is looking more and more likely that he will have to enter into some speech therapy; this is proving to be a dilemma to me on a couple different levels, all of them come back to a question of faith.

My first issue stems out of Ephesians chapter 6 in which we are instructed "and fathers do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord" Eph. 6:4 (NASB) If we are to put our sweet little boy into speech therapy not only will we be provoking him to anger, but we will be paying someone to make us do it. They will, most likely, have us force him to talk by only giving him his basic needs if he asks first. I am really not against this kind of therapy, our three year old was in physical therapy as an infant and our six year old will most likely need some OT off and on through the course of his life with Aspergers Syndrome and Sensory integration disorder; I am, however, against denying my sweet boy a drink because he didn't say the right word, especially if he signed the right word first.

My biggest issue is an issue of faith. Everyday in my prayers I pray for each individual child and one thing that is always the same everyday for each one of them is that God will have them grow and develop in the way He has planned. If I pray that in faith that He will answer, how can I doubt that my child is developing according to His plan. God made this child and He has a plan for him, He is faithful to answer prayer and I fell Aaden is on track with his development, he is on Gods track.

I want him to speak like a normal two year old, but more than that I want him to be the child God has planned; I don't want to try to interfere for the plans god has for him, but I want to do whatever I can to help him succeed. I think it is a problem most Christian mothers face, the temptation is strong and the world pulls at our hearts telling us we are not doing our jobs if we don't take everything into our own hands and make things happen for our kids. Often times I buy into what the world sells myself, this time I want to let go and let God take care of things His way. "For Thou didst form my inward parts; thou didst weave me together in my mother's womb.I will give thanks to Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are thy works and my soul knows it very well" Psalm 139:13-14 (NASB) God made each and every one of us, our children included, and He made us with a plan and a purpose. Every imperfection we see is part of His plan for us; the beauty of His plan is that He gives us our strengths and our weaknesses to serve Him, to give Him glory, and to fulfill His plan. His strength is made know in our weaknesses.

My son may be slow to speak, but God has a plan to use Him. When I pray that Aaden will grow and develop in the way God has planned, I need to have more faith that he already is.