She came through the door, weeping and in agony. Her face was exasperated in pain, and my heart instantly tore a little.

“What’s wrong?” I shot up and tried to figure out what was ailing her. She told me she was in pain—she felt it in her wrists and her shoulders and her legs. She rested on the bed while I went to get her warm rice bags.

It was only several months later, that my twin sister was diagnosed with Lupus. It’s a chronic inflammatory disease that attacks your healthy tissues and organs—the exact opposite of what your immune system is supposed to be doing.

When I got the call that she was diagnosed, I have never felt more far away from her. She lives in Colorado and I suddenly found myself wishing I had stayed with her longer.

But this story is about much more than Lupus, or even my sister, it’s about the beauty of surrendering to God—bodily, soul and mind and what miracles can happen thereafter.

When my sister was actually diagnosed, she had accepted it. She accepted Lupus and in many ways, took the hand of the enemy before God. My twin, eloquently shares a part of her story.

“I took control of my life and let fear envelop me so much that I had accepted sickness. I never truly accepted the fact that God is not illness. The moment I felt I let God become a blur across the ocean was the moment I got scared; I felt so much fear. The moment I let go of His hand was scarier than my sleepless nights wondering about what kind of pain I was going to feel in the mornings.”

The following day, she had a visitation from a solicitor at the door; his name was Christopher, which means carrier of Christ. He was repeatedly knocking on the door until she eventually opened it; she found a smiling young man who ended up asking if she was playing the piano and singing. He said he wasn’t going to leave until she answered the door just so he could say how much her singing blessed him.

He asked if she could play the song one more time for him—she could have closed the door out of trepidation—but instead invited him to sit down to listen to her play. After she was done, he was full of humbleness and said how honored he felt in His presence; he ended up asking to pray aloud and knelt to the ground with my sister.

I don’t know about you, but not many solicitors do that. She sang “Forever” by Kari Jobe for him. In many ways, I felt it was an angel visiting my sister; angels bow before God in His presence and he walked in and ended up kneeling and giving thanks unto God—as though it were an angel who came to the house and said I’m not leaving until you open the door. She was entertaining him through songs of worship to the King of Kings.

He prayed over my sister and said she had a beautiful gift to sing and worship, hoping that she would continue to share it with others. They embraced, said goodbye and that was the end of it. At least, in the earthly sense. God knew the lasting effect that encounter would have with my sister.

“God is joy. He already suffered the pains of the world. Jesus did that a long time ago on the cross and His blood was spilt and poured out for me. He is holy water and joy, the strength of a thousand men, and the power of a thousand holy angels.”

And in a thousand ways, my sister is also lovely. She is beautiful. She is strong. She has a glorified voice. She is wholly consecrated to the Healer of all things.   

The wonderful aspect of her story, is that God was waiting for her to take His hand again. The night she took His hand, she felt no pain. Then, He was able to send her a visitation to uplift her and encourage her the following day. Now, we are waiting in expectation for what God will do next in her life. We must pray without ceasing.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” —Hebrews 13:2