Cries from the Heart by Johann Christoph Arnold Read Free Book Online Page B

that comforted me.
I am thankful for all the prayers that were said for me when
I could see no light at the end of the tunnel. More than that, I
am grateful for the sensitivity toward my situation shown by
those near to me. That was a real form of intercession. For a long
time I believed I would never know joy again, that I would be
trapped in this horrible snare of depression forever. But my husband and my friends believed for me and prayed for me, and I
came through.
    There have always been people who suffered the ravages of mental
illness – depressive thoughts, manic tendencies, emotional instability,
overwhelming anxieties, and delusional ideas. It is those who suffer
from this last imbalance who most often receive the cold shoulder,
perhaps because we see in them our own instability and recoil from
the uncomfortable suspicion that we, too, have the potential to
become unwired.
    Some psychotic or schizophrenic people suffer in a way not
unlike the demonic possession described in the New Testament.
Those people were drawn to Jesus as to a magnet. Indeed, they
seemed to recognize the Son of God more clearly than other, apparently healthy, persons.
    Elisabeth, an acquaintance who died recently, was born in
Germany during the Nazi years. Forced to leave Europe with her
family as a young girl, she ended up in England, but there was no
possibility of long-term refuge. Elisabeth’s father was interned in a
camp for German aliens and then sent to a prison in Canada. As for
the family, they were forced to emigrate again, this time to South
America.
    All this turmoil affected Elisabeth. Her lively and original personality gave way to unusual behavior and eventually to overt
schizophrenia. Because of her illness, Elisabeth and those close to
her lived in continuous exhaustion as one wave after another of
distress, spiritual torment, mental anguish, or physical suffering
engulfed her. Often it felt as if powerful forces were binding her,
and prayer was the only thing that could calm her.
    In her last years, standard psychiatric help and countless medications were of no use. Only love and the emotional support of those
around her seemed to help. Singing and praying brought her
through the roughest hours, and again and again she found inner
peace, even if only temporarily.
    Remembering Elisabeth, I often wonder whether those whom we
think of as emotionally unbalanced are perhaps a much greater gift
to us than we realize and dare to admit. They are vulnerable, and
they are poor in spirit. Through them, if we allow it, a part of the
gospel becomes a reality that is otherwise closed to us. The apostle
Paul tells us to carry each other’s burdens. What does this mean,
other than supporting one another, loving one another, and
praying for one another? Let us never forget, too, that in the gospels Jesus is called the Great Healer. He did not come for the
healthy, but for the sick.

Illness
    Adversity can come in many forms,
including poverty and persecution. But when it takes the shape of illness, even the most selfpossessed person may find himself turning to God for help. Like
nothing else, the physical pain of illness makes us realize the limitations of our human strength and abilities. Unlike health and happiness, it teaches us to pray.
    Paul and Nadine, a young couple I know, were looking forward to
the arrival of their first child. Barry came, healthy and beautiful,
but within a few days it became evident that all was not right, and
he was transferred to nearby Yale University Hospital for evaluation.
    The same week, an older woman in their church died, someone
they knew and loved. During the funeral service, Nadine was suddenly gripped by a premonition: our child will be the next one we
will be burying. Paul remembers:
    Right after the funeral, we got a phone call from Yale: we were
to come immediately because our son was much worse. The