Livin' On A Prayer

She is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. I would see her when I went to have lunch in the multi-purpose hall. She would see me and look down with her smile on her face. As if shy to show me how glad she was to see me. Her smile is unaffected by the cerebral palsy that ravages her body and hinders her movements. It is a smile that burrows past any walls, as if challenging me with her gentleness. I always stopped to say hello and have a conversation and she was always glad to oblige. Tonight I saw her in hospital and she looked down smiling again. But she struggled to remember my name. I'm glad she didn't forget. She was fighting. Against thoughts of death, against bad memories, against frustration, against fear.

Think about Jesus. Jesus is in you. Jesus loves you!

She would repeat those precious words when I spoke them over her. She adored that name. I was fighting too, almost defeated by tears. There was righteousness to be done and we drenched her with love and encouragement. Her sister asked me whether it was a spiritual, or satanic attack. I quickly answered no and assured her that she was a daughter of God who could not be taken over by the devil. But I do believe that the devil, filthy parasite that he is, would always want more of a person. The issue isn't whether God lets it happen or not. The issue is whether we are defending each other with the Word of God.

She sang bravely. Songs of hope, songs of promise. She sang to Jesus and I believe He took notice. Her eyes held recognition more regularly. She remembered family members when they came to visit and she called them on the mobile phone when they didn't. It struck me how often she was apologising to the people around her. It reminded me of Jesus healing the man with palsy in the Bible. The first thing He said when He saw the man was, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

It makes me wonder if the mind and its conscience, the body and its health are somehow all interconnected. Maybe Jesus understood that forgiveness was synonymous with healing. After all, we don't see Jesus examining that man for signs of depression or the state of his mental health. He probably knew that it was all linked. We all want to be forgiven and we all have a Forgiver.

Daughter, your sins are forgiven. Get up and go home!