One of my most joyful, compassionate, amazing third graders! This one's got super squishy & adorably pinch-able cheeks (just like my real little sister! ;). She dreams about being a pilot when she grows up because she imagines what it would be like to fly like a bird! Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite animal in all the world is a chicken! :) When you pinch her adorable cheeks, she starts to blush and gets super giggly. She is always one of the first to run up to the gate whenever I walk into the orphanage and the first thing she does is take your bag from your hands and hang it up somewhere so it won't get dirty. At eight years old, she is the BEST big sister I have ever met! She loves to play with babies and carry them around on her back all day. She especially loves to sing to the greatest love of her life - Jesus. She sings and sings with all she's got, until her beautiful little voice just can't sing anymore! This is Anisha - and she is a BEAUTIFUL child of Jesus.
One thing that always struck me about Anisha was the way her face just LIGHTS UP in worship. When she sings and dances, her joy literally lights up the entire room! On this particular Sunday, she wore her brand new dress and couldn't stop spin spin spinning around, watching her dress float up and down like pretty waves. She couldn't stop smiling all throughout the service, and just watching the way this tiny, but strong & unshakeable girl, is totally in LOVE with Jesus was such an incredible sight!
Anisha is the girl you can always count on to be running around with a smile that takes over half her face! She's always bouncing around playing with babies, dancing in church, or sitting in the front row of class coloring flowers and excelling in math. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I arrived at the orphanage one day and Anisha wasn't talking and seemed incapable of smiling.
I ask Anisha if she's sad......No answer.
I pinch her cheeks (a surefire way to get her to giggle, or at least smile!). Nothing. She turns away :(
I take her hand and I immediately realize that she's burning with fever from head to toe. After some inquiry, I find out she's had malaria since morning and is in so much pain, she can't get herself to do anything but stand in the middle of the grassy field and cry.
Her eyes start streaming with tears from the pain and she's so weak she can't even speak. My heart breaks over her and I keep wishing I could simply pinch her cheeks and see that smile instantly light up her face again.
She sits down and curls up next to me. I place my hands on her burning, tiny, 8-year-old head and start to pray.
"JESUS I cry out for your beautiful daughter, Anisha. She is hurting and sick and broken. She doesn't need medicine, she needs YOU. You know all the brokenness in her body. Pour Your love on her like medicine! I cast anything of Satan out of her body right now, and I pray that you heal her completely in the precious name of Jesus! Thank you for Anisha's heart - she LOVES you and trusts you completely. I know you are going to heal her because you hear this prayer and PRAYER CHANGES REALITY." In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
I can hear the orphanage director calling me somewhere in the distance - so I finish up my prayer, kiss Anisha's boiling hot head, and walk into the director's office to answer random questions for about 10 minutes.
TEN MINUTES LATER, I walk out of Uncle Ken's office, and who do I see dancing around the field, jumping up and down with a humongous smile on her face?! Before I know it, she runs right into my arms, laughing so hard her eyes practically disappear into her smile. It was honestly the loveliest, most heavenly smile I had ever seen in my life. "ANISHA, YOU ARE HAPPY!!!"
"I love you so much," she says, as she digs her super smiley face into my shirt and hugs me so tight it almost hurts. I put my hands on top of hers and I can tell they're quickly returning to a normal body temperature. Did God really just heal her in ten minutes? Through MY prayer? I'm in total shock for a good 60 seconds. And then I remember...how good my God is. Malaria and AIDS are strong forces in Uganda, but NO disease can conquer the strength that is found in the love of Jesus.
There's a simple song in Uganda that goes, "When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no." And the answer is Yes. Yes, He is FOR these children. Yes, He adores them, fights for them, heals them, and holds them. :) When I look at Anisha, I see the joy of Jesus reflected in her adorable, beautiful smile. She has been healed from the inside out and there is nothing left to do but REJOICE! For she has been made so perfect in His image :). hi, beautiful.....
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for healing Anisha. You heal her body when she's sick and her heart when she's hurting. You've made her heart to be so beautiful. Though she was once a lost and broken orphan, you have transformed her into the most joyful, happy, bounciest little princess!! Protect her from Malaria and AIDS so that she may live, breathe, and dance to the beat of your love - ALL the days of her life :).
Captured her singing these words with all her heart:
"Touch my body
Touch my soul
Touch my spirit, Lord and
set me free." <3
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