Nina, Get Up

It was an easy three-hour drive to the port city with Rosário Friday afternoon.  When we arrived, Stélio, a member of our own congregation, welcomed us into the church where he worships while working in that town.  He led that evening’s three-hour study on the Trinity, eliciting insightful discussion among the eleven of us who participated.

We returned on Saturday morning for Stélio’s reading group meeting, which by coincidence was debating the same book as Calisto’s group which I’d visited three weeks earlier:  The Old Gospel by J. I. Packer.  During our session, two teen girls appeared at the gate asking for the pastor, who stepped out to speak with them briefly.  Later an older woman came with the same request, and he spent longer with her.

Our day took an interesting turn when the pastor apologized for interrupting the meeting but explained that there was a situation needing our attention.  All three visitors had appealed for the church to help a young lady in the neighborhood who was apparently under demonic attack.  Though the pastor had sent the first two away with the reply that his church was not among the many local congregations that conduct fanatical ceremonies to that effect, he was moved by the pleas of the third to realize the sincerity and propriety of the community looking to the body of Christ to resolve such problems.

I couldn’t have agreed more.  Furthermore, there’s no partner I’d rather have on such a mission than the brother I’d just traveled three hours to visit.  Stélio’s thoughts must have been similar, because as the pastor spoke, he turned towards me with a raised eyebrow.  I nodded with conviction and we shared a slight smile in expectation of what God would do.

As the pastor hesitantly asked the dozen meeting participants for our opinion, he first called my name, to which I quietly replied, “I’m available”.  Would we go to the scene or have the victim brought to us?  We decided on the former.  All of us or just a few?  We decided on the latter.  Would we resume the literature discussion upon returning?  Since only a few were going, the others could continue in our absence.  Stélio led us all in a prayer beseeching God’s blessing on our endeavor.  Then the four of us whose hearts God had evidently touched for this mission silently rose and walked together down the street.

She lay on a bamboo mat in the shade of a tree, with about fifteen onlookers standing at a safe distance.  She was shabbily clad in rags and her hair was a mess.  Her body was twisted and convulsing.  Her eyes were closed, with a fresh cut on her cheek and one arm across her face.

With Stélio’s assent, I sat beside her and laid my hand on her arm.  At once her convulsions diminished markedly.  I introduced myself and asked her name, but she didn’t answer.  I asked the bystanders, and they said it was Nina.  I said, “Nina, I’m here in the name of Jesus Christ to bring you good news.”  For the next ten minutes, as she remained unresponsive with intermittent twitching, I explained to her the best news of all time, starting with our Creator God and ending by calling her to repent of her sin and believe in Jesus Christ for forgiveness.  Then I told her that I’d come with others from the church to pray for her, nodding for Stélio to take it from there.

My three companions knelt with me around Nina.  Stélio put his hand close to her head and began to pray.  Immediately her convulsions increased violently.  Her extended hand contorted forcibly and her breathing sounded harsh.  Stélio continued praying calmly, extolling God’s power and entreating Him to mercifully deliver Nina from the enemy’s clutches.  My hand remained on her arm as her tremors alternately intensified and lessened.  When we all said “Amen” at the end of the prayer, Nina lay motionless with no sign of consciousness.  Up to that point she had not opened her eyes, moved voluntarily, or responded to us in any way.

“Nina,” Stélio’s voice both kind and authoritative, “Get up.”

Nina began to stir.  We laid a cloth over her bare arm and shifted back to allow her more space as she breathed deeply, slowly stretched out her muscles, and lifted herself gradually to a sitting position.  Then she opened her eyes and looked around.

Stélio knelt in front of her and talked with her.  She affirmed that she had heard, understood, accepted, and believed what I had told her.  Stélio reiterated the power of Jesus Christ as Savior and exhorted her to follow Him from that day forward.

Nina told us that she had experienced such attacks repeatedly over the past two years.  She accepted our invitation to participate in the local church, starting with our women’s meeting that afternoon.  I opened my Bible to I John 1:9, and after she read and explained that verse, I gave her the Bible as a present, instructing her to read it daily.  She thanked me with a big hug as we said goodbye.

When I returned to her home two and a half hours later, Nina ran to greet me with a huge smile and a bear hug.  She’d showered and fixed her hair, and soon arrived at church beautifully dressed and eager to learn.  She asked for the schedule of church meetings, keen to come to them all and learn as much as possible.  She participated enthusiastically in the ladies’ session that Saturday afternoon and worship Sunday morning.  On Sunday afternoon, I studied John 1 with her at her house and also showed her how to locate the book, chapter, and verse of Bible references.  She told me that besides reading in church, she’d already privately read three times from the Bible I’d given her 24 hours previously!

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure” (II Cor. 12:7).  My seafood lunch on Saturday resulted in food poisoning that night.  While I kept my plans for Sunday, I was weak and unwell.  It was by only God’s grace and with Rosário’s help that I managed to drive the three hours home that afternoon.  I pulled into the garage with my last ounce of strength and collapsed into bed.  The medication that hours later allowed me to avert dehydration wasn’t available in the town I’d visited, so I praised God for guiding me, in spite of my symptoms, to drive home where I have it on hand!

The delay in this blog post is due to my food poisoning, from which I have thankfully recovered.  But the delay also allows for two days of updates on Nina.  She seemed well when we talked by phone on Monday, and she participated in the church’s study on Tuesday.

Nina’s deliverance is still very fresh, and her story is far from over.  Please pray fervently that she will whole-heartedly follow our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we will be faithful in discipling her.  Thank you for participating in her story through your prayers.  May you also share our awe of our Lord’s merciful power to deliver the oppressed from the enemy’s clutches.  To God be all the glory!