Have you ever looked in to the eyes of a dying child. I’m not talking about the child you see on the television in some country far away. This blog isn’t about helping those in need of food and water CLICK HERE if you want to read about children in other countries who need you.
no today is about looking in the eyes of a teenager who is desperately ill, and knowing that there are no words to help and no solution to offer. I spent part of my weekend with a friend i have known for 12 years. since she was a little girl. now before her 21st birthday she is faced with an illness that is tearing down her body. To most she looks normal, beautiful actually. but i can see the parts of her that are fading away and struggling to hold onto some of her physical identity.
As i listened to her detail the last year and months of her life, i was in awe of her request. She spoke to me about her physical body being nothing more then a tent for her soul to rest in while she was here on earth. and that her true home was in heaven and the security of her identity and being wasn’t in a physical body but in her heart. This body is nothing to me, she said, if my heart isn’t healed. Her only request is that her heart find the healing it needs from this experience.
one part of her is trying to figure out what to do after college for her career and the other part struggles with the truth that those days may never come. She speaks of understanding true hope and a desire to draw so deep into the wealth and richness of God that she will be able to touch the essence of his love while still here in her earthly tent.
She is not normal she is extraordinary, she lives to serve others, spends time and energy in trying to create a better place for those in need, loves unconditionally, has the purest of hearts, is focused and committed to the cause of Christ. i would be lying to you if i told you that i understood why God choose her, or that i could see good in this…. not that anyone deserves to walk through this but her….. it seems so unfair, unjust.
My heart is broken. yet I trust, though i do not understand, that the good Hand of My God is upon her. I see in her strength that has nothing to do with her physical abilities, i see the beginnings of peace all wrapped up in Hope.
I believe the human heart is stronger then we will ever know when it is able to rest in and draw it’s strength not from the things of this world but the very words and breath of God. There is a healing that is far more important then the healing of our physical bodies…. the healing of our hearts. If you are hurt or depressed or angry or broken down and hopeless, pray for the healing of your heart. Seek out someone who can help you find healing for your heart. Your physical body is nothing more then a tent for your soul.
