Cristal

This special little girl is Cristal.  Cristal has Cerebral Palsy.  

If you look closely, Cristal is grasping a small piece of candy in her hand.

This is Crystal's home.

Crystal is moving her arm from the elbow up to reach her mother's hand.

The first time we met Cristal, my heart shattered.  She lives in Malacatoya, about which I posted the other day.   Her family was one of those to which a team from Celebration Church in New Orleans took a food box.  Sean spotted Cristal and could tell almost immediately that she is paralyzed from the neck down.  

The team members always ask some variation of the "if you died today" question.  When they asked Cristal's family if they believed in heaven and hell, her grandmother, the matriarch of the home, answered "Yes.  I believe in hell.  You're in it.  I live in it every day."  They told us that they had no hope.  That was a hard day for us.  One of those days where you can't help but wonder how you're making a difference.  How your "help" does anything to improve the lives of this family, who struggle every day with a sick little girl in the hardest of places to live.  

We went back a couple days later to take Cristal some milk and a few things that one of the team members purchased for her.  That's when I took the pictures above.  You may notice that Cristal has a smile on her face.  Like all the time.  Her mother, too, was even smiling.  She couldn't wait to share Cristal's new trick with us - she was grasping a piece of candy!  Her mother said she had been moving her arms quite a bit since the team had prayed for her earlier that week, and also that she was trying to form words and speak, something she had never done before either.  We were amazed.  We cried.  We thanked God.  But the story gets better.  Way better.

Not surprisingly, I couldn't stop thinking about Cristal.  Over the course of a month or so, God kept bringing her to my mind, and to Sean's.  We agreed that we needed to do something special for her and her family, so we purchased about 6 months worth of rice and beans as well as the special formula she requires.  Last Sunday, we went to visit her and deliver her provisions, along with another message of the love of Christ.  We thought we were the ones blessing them.  We were wrong.

From the minute we got to her home, we could sense a difference.  Even our translator, Lenin, remarked about how hopeful and happy they all seemed - including the grandmother/matriarch who had told us she was living in hell.  The pastor of the nearby church came with us, and reported that the entire extended family had been attending church since our earlier visit.  They spoke of God's love and His blessings in their lives.  They thanked us for the provisions.  We hugged and held Cristal, took pictures and told her we hoped to see her again soon.  And before we left, we gathered around her to pray.

As Melissa was praying - speaking healing and life over her and her body, and declaring that this little girl would be a light and a testimony to cause all around her to see God's works and believe - none of us could believe what we were seeing.  Cristal began kicking her legs waist high!  Her numb, lifeless legs began to fling up, nearly kicking Melissa and me!  Her mother began crying and rejoicing - in fact there wasn't a dry eye in the yard.  

I don't know whether Cristal will ever walk, or what wonderful things God has in store for this little girl, but she has already changed the lives and increased the faith of so many around her, and I am so grateful that I am one of them!