A Young Woman of Influence

Ladies, I have a challenge for you today. Take five index cards. Okay, so little scraps of paper will do, and if you need to, you can just follow along in your head, but do follow along. On each, write something that you treasure-- something you really just could not live without. What did you put down? Maybe your family, your friends, your health, your instrument, your home, your computer, your Bible, your dog, your iPod, your nation, your favorite bra, your church, your phone, your boyfriend, your car, your chocolate? Can you narrow it down to the top five? Great. Thanks for playing along.

Now, turn them over or crinkle them up, mix them up, put them in a pile and without looking, pull out one. Unless you pulled out something like salvation or God, which cannot be taken away, throw it away. It's gone. Ouch. So just in case you only had to get rid of your favorite bra, let's lose two more. Oh, mama, I'm feeling it now. Can you imagine having something so treasured being gone?

Let me tell you about this amazing young lady I know. She is twenty-years-old now, but when we met, she was just beginning her teenage years. Jessica Jerke is a member of our former church and youth group in Colorado. My daughter, Allison, was only three at our first meeting and she has looked up to Jessica ever since. I appreciate this because over the years, Jessie has proven herself to be a positive role model and influence on my daughter and others around her. While in school, Jessie was an honor student and kept busy in sports, choir, youth group and clubs. She is witty, intelligent, funny, thoughtful and most importantly, her heart belongs to the Lord and she has striven to serve Him in her relationships, words and actions. Jessica loves to sing and toured with the Continentals here in the United States and abroad. Allison recently shared with me that the reason she decided to pursue singing was because of a time when Jessica sang a beautiful song at a family Christmas party, sharing both her God-given talent and her heart for Him. Last year, she began her college career at Colorado Christian University to study music education.

Jessica's Facebook postings were full of fun and excitement including time with her boyfriend Matt, dinner with friends, ice skating, trips to Estes Park and Glenwood Springs, and every once in awhile a note about college classes, too. "I'm doing great!" was posted in early April. Postings began to drastically change near the end of April and into May. An up-beat girl who never complains was explaining how she wasn't feeling well-- she had headaches, blurry vision, restless sleep, pain in her jaw and sinuses, and no peace. She was praying to feel normal again. May 29 "My MRI's showed nothing wrong with me. Watch me walk and I think you'll disagree with the doctors." For reasons we may never know this side of heaven, Jessica's "health card" was pulled out of her pile and so many other treasures were lost as well. Her most damaging symptom is called ataxia, a generic name for loss of coordination, a gentle way of saying she cannot control her own body; she uses a wheelchair and depends on others.

In the past ten months, Jessica has been in and out of various hospitals, therapies, tests, and doctor offices, along with emotional and spiritual struggles. Her blood and spinal fluid have been tested in labs all over the world. Even a trip to the Mayo clinic left the family with no diagnoses and so far no cure. In an article that appeared in her local paper, Jessica was quoted as saying, "There's a good chance that it's this brand-new disease and they can name it after me and my doctor."

It seems that something has happened inside Jessica's body to turn her "T" cells to look just like the cells in her cerebellum. Her brain is literally under attack by her own body's immune system because the brain's cells look just like the rogue "T" cells. Her recent struggles include infections, a bi-pap machine malfunction, negative reactions to medication, and even amnesia. Currently, she is undergoing chemotherapy with great hope that it will improve her condition.

Life is hard, yet Jessie has some huge cards remaining in her pile. "Family" "Friends" are two important ones. Also, I'm thinking that "My witness for Christ" could easily have been another card that Jessica has treasured. Throughout her life, she has been an influence on so many people, including my daughter, for the Lord's sake and that influence still continues to this day. I hope Jessie knows that.

What's the most significant card in the pile? "God" Here is a card that can never be taken away, in this world or the next. And it is this card that Jessica and her family continue to lean on.

Join me in praying for Jessica. And let's pray for ourselves, too, that whatever card we may lose in life that we would cling to the One who cannot be taken away and who will sustain us. May we see that most of the treasures we think we can't live without do not compare to Him.

I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." PS 16:2