How God Healed Her

One of the cool things I did this summer was to attend both of the Steubenville St. Louis Mid-America Youth Conferences in Springfield, MO.  My role was to work with some other great people doing Special Ministries, which just means we helped young people with medical or spiritual issues, either by bringing them to the infirmary, praying with them, or both. (I even did an audio podcast series of reflections on the conference, if you are interested.)

I was blessed to experience on one of the weekends what some people call a “Divine Appointment” where God puts people together at a unique time and place for a specific purpose of His. 

Another Special Minister introduced me to this young woman.  She was sitting outside of the main auditorium on Friday night, because she was having trouble trusting in the message of God’s love that was being proclaimed inside of the venue.  The reason?  She had a lot of pain in her life. 

A friend of this young woman had committed suicide almost exactly one year ago, and she felt like it was her fault.  You see, her friend had called her once while she was at church, and had said, “I am going to kill myself tonight, and I want you to come over and join me.”  She thought he was joking (since he had joked with her about suicide a couple of times before this), and so responded in a sarcastic tone, “Shut up and leave me alone.  I hate you!” and then she hung up on him.  Later that night, she was the first one to discover his dead body.  He had shot himself in the head. 

Not only was this young woman haunted by the memory of discovering her friend’s body, but also she really believed that it was her fault - that her words had contributed to his death - and therefore she was unworthy of God’s love.  As a matter of fact, she had not been to church since that night of her friend’s suicide… 

As we talked, we assured her that it was not her fault – that if a person wants to take their own life, no one can make them, and no one can stop them.  Those words were not enough, though.  She had heard them countless times from friends and counselors, and yet she still believed deep down in her heart that it was her fault. 

In some of the earliest days of my spiritual life, I was blessed to have some great experiences with Treehouse Healing Ministries, which, among other things, ministers to people’s past pain through the Healing of Memories (also sometimes called Inner Healing).  I just knew, during our Divine Appointment, that this kind of healing is what that young woman needed.  So, here is what happened – the other Special Minister and I prayed with this young woman, inviting Jesus into the memory.  And, He showed up for her.  Big time. 

In prayer, in our imaginations, we went back to the memory of that night, and she remembered it all - the tragic scene of the suicide, her friend’s broken body, all of her feelings – everything.  Then we asked Jesus to come into the scene.  We imagined Jesus holding her friend’s dead body in His arms, telling her that it was not her fault, and that her friend is with Him now.  We saw her friend’s eyes open, and he looked at her.  Out loud, amidst loud sobbing, she asked for his forgiveness, and he forgave her.  She also asked Jesus to forgive her, and He did.  She and her friend hugged, and then Jesus wrapped both of them in His arms.  She experienced a peace that she had not felt in a long time. 

Now, there are skeptics who would say that what happened in this experience of healing of memories is just make believe.  I strongly disagree, because as people of faith we believe that Jesus is everywhere, all of the time.  And, if you ever have read the poem “Footprints” you know that in our toughest times of struggle and pain, He carries us. 

What happens in the healing of memories is, in fact more real than the original experience.  It is kind of like what Aslan said to the children in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” – there is a deep magic, and there is a deeper magic.  This deeper magic is God’s truth and God’s love.  He is always with us, right?  In the healing of memories we just allow him to show us HOW He was with us, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  He can touch our past pain and heal our memories.  He did it for this young woman at the youth conference.  He has done it for me.  And, he can do it for you.