A Different Touch

Doctors say that touch is one of the most important factors for the healthy development of a newborn baby. A study found that babies who lacked the touch of a relative, experienced delays in speech, physical development and agility. This study confirmed the importance of physical contact.

Today, we visited a 90-year-old woman who lives in Tibás, Costa Rica named sister Yolanda. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer. 

When she asked if she knew me, I answered “Yes, you met me 20 years ago; I am the daughter of Pastor Mateo”. She then said “I didn’t recognize you with that thing on your face (the mask). She proceeded with, “Remember when we held services here every Saturday”? And with great joy I told her that I surely did.  It appeared as though she had remembered me but, moments later, she asked if she knew me again. 

Throughout our conversation of about an hour, Mrs. Yolanda repeated that question several more times and I would once again explain to her who I was. This however, did not make me sad. Do you know why? Because, though she did not remember me, she remembered the person that many, having all their senses intact, have forgotten. She remembered the one who gave her life. She remembered the one who has never left her. With tears in her eyes, she repeatedly told us that the most essential thing in life is being held by the hands of the Most High.

How do you forget that touch? Her memory possibly did not retain experiences lived with friends or even relatives, but she so clearly detailed moments lived in the presence of God. She became emotional when she stated that the members of the church no longer came over on Saturdays to worship God in her living room. She said, “Could it be that they don’t come because I can no longer serve them coffee and soda at the end of the service?” Not knowing that the priorities for many have changed and in-home church services are already scarce.

At that moment I thought of how great it would be to have a small worship session. I asked her what her favorite song was, and she instantly started singing.

The sound of her voice was one rarely heard. It was a sound that carried the marks of a heart linked to her beloved. It was a sound that in its timbre vibrated the melody of a soul connected to its creator. It was a sound of a life that bears in it, evidence of God’s touch. Without being able to avoid them, my tears ran down my cheek.

After worshiping God together, Sister Yolanda said, “how beautiful it is that we once again worshiped the Lord in my home; for that I know God brought you here”. She concluded by saying “Many are doing foolish things, but you decided to hold hands with the Most High and there is nothing better.”

I agree one hundred percent that there is nothing greater than feeling the touch of Jehovah and feeling his hand guiding us through the darkest moments of life. In Matthew 20:34 it says:

“then Jesus, moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight, and they followed him.

Last night I preached and expressed that the worst thing in life is having eyes without having vision. The touch of God opens your vision and allows you to live a long journey like that of our sister Yolanda, who, though her body and mind  weaken, her soul, on the other hand, is strengthened.

It was a sound of a life that bears in it, evidence of God’s touch