October 22, 2024
She was a living, breathing miracle standing right in front of me.
The last time I had seen Janice (not her real name) at the jail a few years ago, I didn’t know if she would make it. She had been found naked and unconscious in a ditch. She had been raped and left for dead. Her arm was broken. An addiction to drugs had often drawn her to evil people.
Seeing her back then at the jail and knowing what had happened, I had hugged her and cried. My heart was broken.
The other girls in her cell had gone to Bible study that morning but she had stayed behind. She didn’t want to attend, needing a few quiet minutes while they were gone.
Now here we were, a few years later, and Janice looked great. That day at the jail, she was a bruised and battered mess. These days she is a beauty and smiles ear to ear.
Today she was with friends. I wasn’t going to mention anything to them about our previous meeting, but she pulled me to them. “This is ‘the church lady’ that used to come to the jail,” she was quick to say.
“I saw her at a really bad time in her life …” I started. Before I could say another word, she told them everything. And I mean everything. I couldn’t help crying.
To see her standing there looking so great was such a miracle! Not only has she overcome addiction, but she is using her past pain to help others.
Janice’s story drew me to Mark 5:1-20 and the story of the demoniac. He lived in the tombs. No one could bind him or control him. Night and day he cried out and cut himself. That sounds like a life of addiction to me.
We don’t know how it all started. It’s not clear. Had he run with the wrong crowd? Been in a relationship with the wrong person? What is clear is that sin had overtaken him. He was homeless, suffering, dead on his feet. He cried out day and night. The wails came from the cemetery. The townspeople must have constantly been on edge.
But Jesus changed the man’s life! He took out all the bad and filled him with peace and hope. When people came to see what all the commotion was about, they saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting there in clothes, in his right mind. He did the same thing for Janice, and I am so thankful!
I messaged her on social media to ask what had made the change for her. She wrote, “I was blessed with a merciful judge and loving God that knew I couldn’t do it on my own. They saw fit to send me to Hope in the Mountains (a local rehab).”
Bible stories are true. Yes, they happened thousands of years ago, but God is not dead. He still works in people’s lives if they let Him. Nothing is impossible with Him!
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Dawn Reed is a pastor's wife and newspaper columnist. Reach her at preacherswife7@yahoo.com.
