I KNOW YOU HEAR MY CRY
Testing
times are called so, for they ‘test’ us. Why else would one call them ‘testing
times’?
To me, Jesus Christ was
more a human than God. Yes, my Christian faith makes me believe that He was ‘Son
of God’. But, then, what about you and me? Whose sons and daughters are we?
So, every time I seek
inspiration from Jesus Christ, my Hero, I seek it seeing Him as a real human
just like you and me. Yes, He touched and healed others… walked on water… gave
sight to the blind… cleansed lepers and the sinners… even brought dead men to
life. But, when it came to His own life, He dreaded, lost all His courage… was
left torn and tormented just as how you and I would in testing times… That’s
why, from the Cross, right from the pit of His acute agony, He cried out
loudly, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Come to think about
it!!!
Two of my most favorite
hymns/songs are about surrendering to God’s will in our times of trial, and
they both talk about ‘surrendering to Jesus’! Every time I find myself helpless
and, what seems like, at the end of my road, I recall the painful cry of Jesus
from the Cross… Feel Him totally… and, as I do that, I find the courage to live…
yes, even in death!
To me, there is only
one God… the God we all worship in different names. So, when we all cry out
like Jesus did – ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ – we all are
seeking help and grace from the same Merciful Creator… Aren’t we?
Neena*,
a dear friend of mine, who lives in America with her family, has been a regular follower of my blog posts. She and her husband had to go through – and they are
still going through – their testing time. It revolves around their young son,
Prayash, who has been going through an extremely low phase in his life. Obviously,
the parents were anxious and worried and did every possible thing they could to
help the young man recover. Many times, they saw light at the end of the tunnel…
but, when they reached there, they would only feel disappointed and heart-broken.
I could empathize with their situation and had encouraged Neena, in my own way,
not to lose hope. For last two months or so, I did not hear from Neena. And,
early this morning, I sighted this message from her…
Hi Gerry, a lot of chaotic happenings
in the last few weeks, since I sent you the last update.
Prayash (Neena’s son) is not doing
well at all. We were worried about him before… Now, we are terrified about
losing him. Last weekend was his 18th b’day… He talked about ending
his life. We had to call the crisis hotline and get a mental-health police-officer
to come home and calm Prayash and assess his mental state-of-mind…
Our child is not able to be happy,
perhaps… He has no self-love or self-respect! He is hurting himself a lot and
we are hurting ourselves with him, for him. We spent his b’day with a very
heavy heart.
Della (their dog), too, is feeling
the grief in our family now. She is withdrawn and not energetic as she usually
is. Milind (Neena’s husband) and I are starting to explore aggressively what
our next step should be. We have some ideas which we are exploring; but, it
might take a few weeks for us to feel certain and have more clarity that is right
for Prayash and for us…
I will share more once I know more.
In the meantime, please keep praying… Gerry, can you please pray for Prayash?
We are desperately praying for him to heal.
Which
Deity did Neena, a devout Hindu, want me to pray to? That’s the beauty, strength
and power of a sincere cry – I call it the cry from my Cross. I could only
think of two hymns/songs that I always took shelter in during my own testing times...
and I immediately shared them with Neena,
adding this note:
“Dear Neena, keep in
your heart the Deity you are closest to as you soak in these hymns/songs...
That’s the best prayer
I could pray for my friend’s family.
*All names changed
GERALD D’CUNA
Pic.: Anil Bedi
Videos: YouTube
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