Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.
John 5:14

Healing is not synonymous with transformation. Healing is the first step. When someone is in pain and despair, they are unable to process things clearly. They need concrete help. When we read the stories about healing in the gospels, Jesus does something in a concrete manner. Prayer should not be a substitute to concrete action. It is always a prelude to it. However, healing is never the finality. It opens the door to speak about “sin”. In the gospels, “sin” is not reduced to certain actions but a lifestyle. The word means we are missing the mark, or rather, aiming at the wrong thing. All of us want to have a good life yet, most of us base this on the wrong things. Getting the aim or purpose of life wrong leads us to a chaotic and self destructive lifestyle. Healing gives people a moment to reevaluate their lives and make a concrete decision. Unfortunately, many who are healed do not change their lifestyle. This is why Jesus advised the man, “Do not sin any more”.

One of the most significant incidents which happened this year in our ministry was the stroke suffered by Patricia. In 2013, we were dealing mainly with children and teenagers and maybe young adults. Today, we have expanded our age group. Our young people grew up and became adults. Patricia is 43 but she has been living in the streets since she was 14. Today she is the matriarch of two generations of children born into homelessness. It has been a lifelong struggle for this family to break the cycle. Her two older daughters found a place to squat, not the best circumstance but better than sleeping in the streets. As a result, they are able to send the grandchildren to daycare center and preschool. Patricia and her other children including Tainá are renting a tiny room. Three grandchildren under seven and three adults sleep in this tiny space. Patricia tries to hold the family together which is not an easy task. The constant financial struggles coupled with the proximity of easy money through criminal activity always pose a challenge for this family. Consequently, Patricia’s stroke was a big blow to the family. She was left partially paralyzed. We spent many hours at the intensive care with Tainá. This young girl had to carry the family now. She is only 21 years old but is already a mother of three. In many ways, she is still very much a child herself. Naturally she was completely devastated. In a private moment with us, she broke down in tears and thought that she was going to lose her mother forever.

Patricia was eventually sent home and the family struggles began. Brazil has universal health care but there are still lots of financial burdens incurred by this illness. Patricia needed diapers and a wheelchair, as well as constant care which included a control diet. Besides these, there is the expense of getting her to and fro physical therapy. All these are a challenge for a family which can hardly feed everyone. Besides these, Tainá has three young children under seven to manage. We thought that she could eventually have a mental breakdown. Instead, she stepped up to the plate. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she felt that she was capable of doing things responsibly. She had to put aside all her insecurities and low esteem to ensure that her mother was getting the necessary care. We helped as much as possible with the expenses so that the family could get through this time. Even some of the other homeless youth helped. One in particular begged for rice and other staples to take over to the family. On one of our home visits, Patricia shared that she was afraid that she would never be healed. We prayed with her. After a short period of physical therapy, Patricia is able to walk again. She still needs lots of work on her arm. However, the healing process has began. Patricia is able to do many things on her own, learning to be independent as much as it is possible.

Tainá did not come out of this situation unscathed. She has been suffering with anxiety attacks recently and has frequent migraines. Finally she sought help. The Universal Health Service here includes mental health treatments too. Tainá talked with a therapist and she was able to figure out one of the primary causes of her anxiety. The whole experience has presented Tainá a different way to live her life. She enjoyed helping and taking care of her mother. Now she did not want to go back to the life she led before. Technically, she was not homeless but there are still many of the negative aspects of homeless youth subculture which are strong in her. Her boyfriends were into crime. She was comfortable with many criminal elements in the streets. Now she wanted change. She did not want things to be better: she wanted a transformation. She decided to walk down to a church near to her house and pray. She told us that she made a decision to leave behind everything and make living her life for Jesus a priority. She did this on her own without any manipulation from outside. She is like the prodigal son who returned to the Father’s home. We ensured her that we will help her in her journey. She started attending church every other day because she wanted to fill her mind with new things. She has a renewed hunger to know all things pertaining to God. The church has a spiritual retreat this weekend. She did not have the finance for it but some of the church members seeing her genuine thirst for God decided to pay for her. This will be her first time participating in an event outside her comfort zone. She realized that a simple thing like a weekend spiritual retreat requires some expenses. She does not have toothpaste nor shampoo nor other basic stuff. In her family, they have one of each for the whole family. We ensured her that she will get all the things she needs to help on her journey to transformation. This girl is truly changing. She is able to see God’s hand in her life.

As a final thought, both healing and transformation in this particular case are a communal affair. Healing does not happen with a mere waving of hands. Jesus is not a magician. He is the King who ushers in the Kingdom of God, a community of healing and transformation. In a way, all Christian ministry involves going into the world and becoming a community of healing and transformation. Both healing and transformation are difficult. Therefore, it is necessary that there is always a community of love and compassion standing behind us whenever we take a step towards them.