Elianna smiled. The light from her smile opened up a flood of
tears in Jasna. For she saw in that
instant a joy she had nev nev
“You’re so beautiful,” she said.
“And you are too, even with scrapes
and bruises.”
“No, you don’t understand. You’re so beautiful it hurts. It shoots through my
heart like a bolt of lightning. I feel
unworthy of seeing it…. It might sound
strange—I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Oh Jasna, you’re too kind. I—”
“No, I need you to tell me
something.” Jasna looked straight at Elianna solemnly, earnestly. “When you
were praying I heard you say something like….” She paused to think.
“Yes?”
“Something like, ‘Don’t just heal
her body, but heal her blind eyes that they might see.’”
Elianna nodded slowly.
“See what? What do you want me to see?”
Something in Elianna leaped, and her
pulse quickened. She had dreamt of
moments like this for years; prayed for them.
For these are the questions, the times a true Christian longs for. Was it happening? Had she really fallen asleep and created all
this in her fanciful imagination? Her
face warmed, heat seeping into her cheeks.
Surely an interruption would come clattering down at any moment. She looked into Jasna’s staid gaze, waiting
for something to shatter this dream, as it had been so many times before. She remembered the time she had helped Jim
Custer—the eccentric homeless man—find shelter in a snowstorm. He had been drunk, groping and cursing as she
tried to guide and support his stumbling steps.
The next day he awoke sober, and found out who had saved his life. He came all the way—three miles—to her house
to thank her. He asked her why she’d
“done good by an old, wretched scoundrel” like him. The answer was ready and true in her heart:
Because Jesus Christ had shown her so much grace, so how could she help showing
a little of the same to him? But her own
mother appeared innocently out of nowhere and pounced on the conversation. And the moment was gone. The question was forgotten. She had punched the unsuspecting face of Mary
and Sam Robinson’s snowman, and cried behind it out in the field.
But here was this beautiful girl who
had escaped death by a hair—a girl whom she had misjudged cruelly at the
beginning, but who had reached out to her so generously—still waiting for an
answer in the hours before twilight.
“I want you to see the glory and
beauty of Jesus Christ,” was her meek reply.
Silence followed. Jasna gazed at the ceiling in thought for a
few minutes. Then she spoke.
“Do you remember when I asked you
what makes you come alive?”
“Of course. It was such a good question.”
“And you said, ‘Prayer.’”
Elianna nodded.
“I don’t know why, but that was the last thing I
expected you to say. And it crashed down
on my heart like a boulder; like that auto that hit me. I’ve thought about it a lot ever since—over
and over. That’s why I wanted to hear
you pray.”
Jasna took Elianna’s right hand and kissed it,
looking at her with admiration. “It was
so lovely, Elianna. You weren’t lying at
all—prayer really does make you come
alive. I’ve nev
“It was certainly from my heart,” Elianna said.
“When I woke up and couldn’t feel my legs, and
remembered what had happened (the fragments—Ferdinand had to tell me the
details that had been knocked out of me), I had the strangest clarity in my
mind. I saw my life as clearly as we saw
the sea on that day we became friends.
Everything I had ever done or said looked hollow, foolish, and
insignificant. Squandered. Yes, I saw all my days as squandered for
nothing.” Her voice was brea
She paused.
“And then somehow I knew I needed you.”
Elianna’s whole being filled with more compassion
and love than she had known in years.
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she squeezed Jasna’s hand.
“Oh Jasna, there’s—”
“Please let me finish?” Elianna nodded and
sniffed.
“I think what you said a moment ago is the answer
to my realization. You said that you
wanted me to see the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ. Can you…teach me how to see this?”
“I can try.
It would be my greatest pleasure to show you all I can.” Elianna was
beaming and blurry-eyed.
“Grand.
Let’s start tomorrow then. Right
now I want to ask you something else—if you don’t mind of course, that is.”
“Of course I don’t mind.”
"Well…Elianna, are you sure you don’t need to
sleep? It’s awful late. I’d feel badly if you took ill for lack of
rest…”
“No no, I’m well if you still aren’t sleepy. Are
you?”
“Not a bit.” Jasna affirmed.
“So?”
“You’ve told me many things about Sylvia already,
but what about David? I want to hear
what he’s like.” Jasna’s tone peaked
with expectant interest. Elianna smiled
and thought for a few moments.
