By Malou Saranza

My daughter has a halo brace on her head. To many, it seems as if she is in a cage. But my husband and I see that Therese is one of the freest children this world has ever known.

“Mommy! My head is hurting again!” exclaimed my daughter Therese. “Really, sweetheart?” I said, concerned, “Why does my head hurt everyday Mommy?” I turned to my husband Boy, who looked at me a little helplessly. “Mommy you know as well as I do the doctors can’t find anything wrong with Therese. I mean, wasn’t it a relief to know it isn’t it a brain tumor?”

I nodded, half-convinced. Therese’s headaches which began when she was only five years old and which at first we thought were just her way of getting attention, were getting more and more severe. Boy and I had just completed the 14 weeks of the Christian Life Program of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) and we had learned to just trust in the love of God healing, but there were times when I just had to ask, “Why my child, Lord? Pain relievers don’t work for her. If there is something wrong, show u where to look, it’s not tumor, they say. So, what is it?”

Falling Into a Trap

“I’m withdrawing the prescription for the pain relievers, Luisa. Let’s see what happen,” said the doctor.

What happened was that the headaches stopped. But we notices that Therese was starting to have difficulty walking. Not only that, she was also beginning to lose grip on pencils and crayons. Alarmed, we once more brought her to the doctor and she ordered the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) be done on her. We would have to fly her to Manila for this.

At the back of our minds, we were really hoping to avoid this procedure. It was already December at the time and our family was spending Christmas in Bohol. Folks there had advised us to consult mananambal. Although Boy and I were already reading the Bible then, we did not know that consulting with such spiritist was a grave sin against the Lord. What deceived us even more was that this mananambal even had images of Jesus and the saints in the room. She used these side by side with eggs, rings, coins, gold, and other items. We hopped from one mananambal to the other whenever one failed. The last one we consulted advised us that the reason this was happening was because someone was mad at Boy and had used barang-barang against Therese. We hung on to the mananambal’s promise that the year would not end without Therese being healed, even as we helplessly watched her painfully losing her ability to walk.

Breaking the Deception

December 31. It was the end of the year. Boy and I eagerly watched for the sign the Therese would be healed. The mananambal said we had to observe the color of her bowels. If it was black, that meant the evil things in her body were finally being released. We waited expectantly at the mananambal’s “chapel” with all the images of the saints.

“Look, Mommy,” said Boy excitedly. “Therese is lifting up her hands!” you see, all this time, Therese could no longer lift her hands. But this was the only time we rejoiced. Because December 31 soon became January 1 and still Therese was not healed.

By January 2, Boy and I could hardly do anything but cry. It was clear to us that Therese would not be able to go to school anymore. Her strength was practically all gone, we knew had to rush her to the doctor once again. Days earlier, I had gone into prayer and had picked up the Bible. I cut the Bible and the first verse that my finger pointed to spoke of consulting spiritists and other occultist practices

Only then was I enlightened about the grave sin of idolatry that Boy and I had committed. I immediately told Boy about what I had read and we both sincerely repented for what we had done. Spiritism had not done us any good. It was time now just wait on the Lord.

Blank Wall

The doctors continued to face a blank wall. The Series of tests and other examinations revealed nothing. It seemed as if Therese was not sick at all. Yet, why couldn’t she walk? Why was she virtually paralyzed from the neck down?

Our friends, relatives, leaders and co-members in our Action Group in BCBP were a great source of support. They prayed continuously for our family and visited us to comfort us often, there were times when I felt I could not take much more. But Therese herself would lift me up by saying, “Mommy, let’s sing my favorite song, Shine Jesus Shine.”

It was often this way. Therese herself would be my source of comfort whenever she sang a praise song as she was being examined by the doctor, often refusing to answer questions until she finished a whole song, it was Therese’s attitude toward prayer that encouraged me to pray even more.

Light and Hope

The doctors were finally able to tell us what was wrong. They said that Therese was suffering from a congenital instability. They all said that they doubted if she would ever walk again, but they would make an effort to help her by installing a halo brace into her skull to keep her ordonthoid bone from hitting her medulla so she could continue breathing. But before the halo brace was installed, she would have to stay in one position for almost two months with a traction to keep her from moving. This was a difficult time for Therese who very badly wanted to go back to school. We encourage her by saying that through our prayers, God would make it very possible for her to go back to school soon, if she would just cooperate with the doctors.

The day came when the doctors installed the halo brace on Therese. This brace looked like a cage around her head. It would not spare her from discomfort, but at least it would enable her to regain the use of her legs.

Why?

The most logical question that we asked the Lord throughout all this time was why was He allowing all these to happen to us. In times like these, it is very difficult to see the wisdom of the Lord. But as the months passed, Boy and I saw how much closer our family was becoming. Not only that, we were being cleansed from our tendencies to put our trust in money and other treasures. When Therese first got sick, we thought that having money to buy medicine would be enough. Now we see that is only the Lord we can really cling on to for healing. We cooperate with the doctors for they were given the knowledge by the Lord to help the sick, but we look only to God’s perfect will for what will happen next.”

Then we look at Therese and we start to praise God. She is not the typical child on the street who plays unconcernedly and runs and dances and jumps. But neither is she the typical child who cries at the slightest discomfort, or throws temper tantrum when she doesn’t get her own way. In fact, her uncomplaining acceptance of her condition is an inspiration not only to us, but to those who come to visit her.

Many say that they expect to give Therese comfort when they come to her. Instead, they receive comfort from Therese, who candidly speaks about God’s goodness to her and to us.

Boy and I cannot claim to know completely why God has seen fit to make us undergo this trial. But we can completely trust that everything will turn out well for all of us as we continue to put our hope in Him who controls all that goes on this earth.

(Salamat sa Kerygma!)