Carrie

Carrie was born with several genetic childhood diseases. She was the middle child in a family who were trying to make their way in a new place, the state of Oregon. She was like any other child growing up and loved to play inside with her little ponies. Carrie also loved to play with her older sister and younger brother outside in the fresh Oregon air as often as the rain and snow would allow it.

As she grew childhood epilepsy choked out many activities that other children routinely enjoyed while growing up. Carrie couldn’t run around like the other kids and often had to endure whole afternoons just sitting in the house staring out the window watching other neighborhood children laughing and having fun.

School was a challenge too because the drugs she had to take for epilepsy caused her to lose focus, attention span and made her drowsy. Childhood depression soon set in as she began to withdraw from life that continued to thrive everywhere around her. To counter balance her depression she started self medicating with drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

It wasn’t long before Carrie started to hear other voices in her head. The voices grew louder and louder as her substance abuse grew into a full blown addiction and she was soon diagnosed with schizophrenia. She would have to endure this paralyzing mental fragmentation for the rest of her life.

Unable to cope with the stress most people have to deal on a day to day basis, Carrie ended up living on the street where she was abused. The world is a cold, dark reality for many who are mentally or physically challenged.

Because of an ill managed and out-of-control welfare system combined with state and federal support drying up, many people who need to be institutionally taken care end up living out on our streets. Once on the streets they are forced to endure lack of nutrition, restroom facilities, and medical services while continually being battered by the harsh elements that eventually lead to premature death or incarceration.

Although many law enforcement officers try their best to help these people out, they are not equipped with the right tools or training to safely handle many situations that often turn deadly for the mentally disabled.

For Carrie her relatives were successful in finding her help which included medical, dental, a place to live and a care giver. However most people are not as lucky as Carrie and come to a tragic end while living on the street.

Carrie died yesterday at the age of thirty-nine. She went to bed and never woke up. She never really had a chance at living a normal life in this world. My only hope for her is that God in his great mercy will resurrect her in heaven and give her a new body and mind that is perfect, free from disease, where she can finally experience life as it was meant to be.

Some might call me naïve that I believe in God and know that He has a special plan for children like Carrie who are forced to grow up in a world that is fragmented and constantly coming apart at the seams. While our bodies will one day decay and turn to dust, our spirits will live on and for Carrie, well; she is finally free from the constant torture of a broken mind.

There is hope for Carrie and people like her. Actually there is hope for all people born into this world. Through God’s love and mercy He planned a way that we can return back to Him. It is through the sacrifice of God’s One and only Son, Jesus Christ that we can once again be healed and stand in God’s presence.  Jesus promised that He would prepare a place called heaven for us.

In contrast heaven will be a fresh start for us where God will wipe away every tear. In this next stop this fallen world’s sin won’t be a problem anymore. God will correct the destructive forces of man’s will and impose His own perfect will for all eternity.

On that day the lion will lay down with the lamb while greed, selfishness and evil will be thrown into the pit of hell where they belong. What the world needs now is love. Love is only of God and not from man. We can only love because God first loved us and allows us to love through the power of His Holy Spirit.

So it is time for all of us to get together and start loving one another before our King returns for us. Again, what the world needs now is love sweet love that is the only thing that will heal the wounds of this world.