Why would you, pray for me? Part 3

Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.  

Romans 10:13

My heart sank as the sweet young lady told me about Mya’s passing.  “She passed away comfortably,” she said.

Once again, she asked me if Mya still owed me money.  However, that mattered so little to me at the moment, I told her that all debts were erased. I asked how she knew Mya and she told me that she had spent the past few weeks with her as an in home caregiver.  She expressed her condolences to me and asked if I was a longtime friend, or perhaps a related of Mya’s.

I explained how I was providing Mya with the supplements she needed and although I had never met her I felt like I had known her for a very long time.  I told the young girl that I had been praying for her for quite sometime.

That’s when the phone went silent for a moment. “You were the one praying for Mya?” she asked.

“Yes, I began praying for her the first time she called.  I was diligently asking the Lord to heal her.”

“Wow,” the young woman said, “I didn’t know that was you. I’m happy to tell you, the day before Mya passed away she told me she wanted to accept Jesus as her savior. We prayed together and she accepted Him.”

The news of Mya’s death did not make me cry. Oh, believe me, it saddened me beyond belief – but when this young woman spoke these words to me, I couldn’t control it anymore, and I began to cry.  You know, a soft, tearful, grateful heart – cry.

She went on to say, “You know, I would come in to take care of Mya and she would ask me question after question about Jesus.  I would answer her and I began bringing my bible to show her things we were talking about.  When she accepted Him she was completely overtaken with a peace I had not seen her have until that moment.”

I was still crying, listening as she went on to say, “She died the next evening, in a state of utter peacefulness.”

It is a trustworthy statement, for if we died with Him, 

we will also live with Him; if we endure, 

we will also reign with Him.  If we deny Him, 

He will also deny us; 

if we are faithless, He remains faithful, 

for He cannot deny Himself.  

2 Timothy 2:13

I hung up the phone and began praying.  Praying thanks that Mya’s suffering was over, praying thanks that she came to know Jesus Christ before her death, and praying a sigh of gratefulness that the good Lord had provided Mya with such an honest, tender hearted woman to be with her until the end.

Later the next week when our paper came out, I saw Mya’s obituary.  In it, it said that Mya had an adventurous spirit and that she was always searching for truth.  In her quest, she had been a Jew, a Hare Krishna, Buddhist and a member of a local hippie commune.  But the words that struck me to the very core of my being, was, “Mya, came to the end of her search and she accepted Jesus Christ and her Lord and Savior the day before she died.”

This is a good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior, 

who desires all men be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

1 Timothy 2:3-4

Once again, tears crept in, and this time I just could not control the overwhelming emotion I felt.  Was I responsible for Mya coming to know Jesus? No, I don’t think so.  I was simply the first step in this process; God used me to plant the seed.  This beautiful young girl tenderly watered the seed and stayed by Mya’s side, not only nurturing her body – but also nurturing her spirit. I still praise God for placing her there with Mya.  But I am eternally grateful that He allowed me to be a part of this story.

In reading this, you may find yourself saying, “ Robin – aren’t you disappointed?  Mya wasn’t healed.”

At first, that was my initial reaction. I would ask,  “Lord, I knew you could heal her, why didn’t you?”

It wasn’t until some time later when I was asking Him about Mya that He impressed me with the fact the He not only stopped her suffering, but that He has healed Mya completely.

Mya may not have received the outward physical healing we may associate with the term healing; instead, she was given complete spiritual healing.  She had been one who spent a lifetime in search of the one who gives our life purpose, meaning and joy.  Unbeknownst to even Mya, in the last few months of her life she was on her last spiritual journey, and she found the one who could not only heal her outwardly, but the one who could heal her inwardly. Her spirit was given rest, rest in Christ Jesus, and hope for eternal salvation through Him.  Now I say that is complete healing!

That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, 

and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, 

you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, 

resulting in righteousness, 

and with the mouth he confesses, 

resulting in salvation.  

Romans 10:9-10

Mya could have turned me away when I said I was praying for her.  She could have asked that I not do so, but there was something in those words that she clung to.  She began to consider that yes, there was a God who cared for her and would hear prayers regarding her.  It was an honor for me to be placed in a daily position to talk to God about her. 

For me, that is the beauty of prayer.  When someone asks me to pray for them, I consider it an honor, it gives me more time to be with my God.  When I offer to pray for someone, it is so they know I have absolute faith in my God, and I know He hears our prayers and pleas. Both are an honor for me, not because I have anything to do it it, but because others can come to see His hand in their lives.

My memory of Mya lives on. I never had the opportunity to meet her while she was here on earth, but because of my faith and God’s promises, I know I will meet her one-day. 

For God has not destined us for wrath, 

but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who died for us.  So that whether we are awake or asleep, 

we will live together with Him.  

1 Thessalonians 5: 9-10

In preparing to tell this story I was reading in my bible. I noticed that I have the date marked that Mya died, July 19, 2003. I also have the day marked that Mya accepted Christ, July 18^th, 2003. 

As is the case each day, I was praying and asked the good Lord to show me something in my daily devotional book that I have been speaking about.  I felt impressed to go to the date she died, when I heard that still small voice say, “It’s better to go to the day when she asked Me into her life.”

So, without hesitation I turned to July 18^th in my book Grace for the Moment.

The title of the reading is, God Walks Among the Suffering

The verse is: He took our suffering on Him and carried our disease. Matthew 8:17

And again I say, GOD IS GOOD!