Smile – Jesus Loves You

Many of us have had the honor of going on home visits with the counselors from the Holy Family Center.  There was one patient that stood out to me while on the visits.  Her name was Susan and she was HIV (+). She is  a young single mother of three children ages 9, 4, & 2 1/2 months. Susan is raising her children alone in a small shack while performing odd jobs for people making less then $2 a day.

We spent about an hour with Susan discussing her children, medicines for her illness, and other psychosocial needs.  As we sat there, in my head I thought, how can I, a young 27-year-old woman from Virginia who has an abundance of resources, relate to this to this woman? What do we really have in common?

The session wrapped up and at the end, I asked Susan if I could pray with her. I grabbed her hand and we prayed together. After the prayer, she looked up at me with a big smile on her face, the first smile I had seen from her all day.  She then told me how much that meant to her and how important her faith was.

As she was talking it finally hit me, a little whisper from God,

“Shelly, you are just like this woman”.

Though I may not know the poverty, brokenness, or sickness, I hold the same hope inside of me that Susan holds. At that moment I was humbled. Though Susan didn’t have many possessions, she was overflowing with hope, displaying the joy and peace needed to trust in the Lord.  I thanked Susan for our time spent together and as we walked out, I couldn’t help but smile knowing how much Jesus loves us all.

by Shelly Anuszkiewicz, a visitor and friend of First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, Virginia.