While I Breathe

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings

as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” 

—Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

September arrived heavy, as though the month itself carried a grief it could not set down. And yet, beneath the weight of it, there was an old and steady comfort: God is close to the brokenhearted. My partner and I, had gone to the municipal to pay the electric bill, an ordinary errand in an ordinary day. But when we reached home, the quiet broke.

Voices met us hushed and hurried. Something had happened to Nanay Merlina. She had collapsed behind her daughter's house and was rushed to the hospital. My heart stumbled. High blood, they said. But only days before, we had checked her pressure ourselves, and it had been normal. Had we missed something? The question followed me through the dark like a footstep.

For almost two weeks she lay in that white, humming place, and we did not know when she would return to us. Every evening at worship, her seat held a silence louder than any song. She had always been the first to arrive, the brightest voice in the room.We could do nothing but pray, so every night I knelt, my heart aching, asking only that God would heal her.

Then, one morning, by God's grace, she came home.

Joy rose in us like morning light, until we saw her clearly. The right half of her body was paralyzed. It was hard for her to move, to walk, to eat. She had no strength left, and she could not even carry a spoon. I watched her try, her hand trembling, her eyes lowered, and something in me broke quietly. So we decided to come every day.

I massaged the paralyzed side, pressing with all my strength so she might feel it, for pain would mean that life still lived there, while my partner tended the other side. She kept taking her medicine, and we kept visiting, praying, and massaging. Then one afternoon, her fingers curled, just slightly, around mine.

Slowly, almost shyly, her body answered. One step, then another. Nanay was so happy that we came, and so grateful for the daily massage. Soon she could walk, even wander through the barrio and exercise, her face turned toward the sun. And when she could walk a little, she spoke of Sabbath. She wanted to go to church.

Her daughter would not allow it, afraid for her, but Nanay lifted her chin, quiet and unshakable. "As long as I can, as long as I breathe, nothing can stop me from worshipping God." The words rang in my chest like a bell, and my eyes burned. A new believer, yet her faith was older than her years, willing to surrender everything, rain or shine,she would always attend worship. Now Nanay Merlina is healed by the grace of God, and her voice joins ours each night, steady and sweet. Sickness cannot close the door to worship. It is the proof, burning quietly in a small, brave woman, of a faith on fire.

Name: Ronafie Dawe |66th Batch | 1000MM

Mission Field: New Loon Asuncion, Davao Del Norte