Love Covers

 3/9/2021

1 Peter 4:8  “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” 

This verse is truth. I remember when I was in a day program at a local hospital during my illness, I met a teenaged girl who was being released from the psyche ward. She had tried to kill herself and almost succeeded. I met her on my first day there, and I was drawn to her immediately. I listened to her story during the group sessions, and we talked during breaks from the program. She had told me that she had broken her father’s heart by coming out to him. Before this conversation they were very close; it was clear that she loved him dearly. After she told him, he said that he could not accept this news and threatened to disown her. She then tried to kill herself. I know that there are a lot of statistics about this exact situation, but I had met an actual person, and it was gut-wrenching.

By just looking at her, I could see that she was tormented and profoundly hurt, and that is saying a lot in a room full of people receiving CBT instruction to combat mental illness. My first day was her fourth of the five day program. I listened and empathized with her, having lost my own father in an accident at her age, and knowing how traumatic it is to lose someone you dearly love. No matter what causes a person to disappear from our lives, we grieve. She kept focusing on the profound loss she was feeling, and how he would never be able to forgive or love her. He had not been to visit her the entire time she was hospitalized. The stories she told of their relationship clearly expressed a deep connection and love between them. I kept trying to pour hope into her, saying that his love for her would trump everything else. She just could not believe that could ever be possible. I was so confident about this that I spoke with a conviction I probably shouldn’t have. I knew that my earthy father would always love me no matter what, and my Heavenly Father even more so. I just wanted her to give her hope in a room full of hopelessness, including my own. Clearly, God was still working through me even though, in my illness, I had lost sight of Him. 

After a full eight hours of being in this young woman’s company, I left for the day and she went back to her room. I began questioning everything I said to her. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe her father would forever turn his back on her. Maybe I should not have tried to give her hope. (This was 100% against the program protocols, by the way.) I had a restless night as I prayed for this tortured young woman. The following morning, as I struggled myself to walk into the room full of strangers yet again, I saw the young girl sitting in the corner and she appeared lighter as she smiled chatting with the others already there. I said good morning as I took the seat next to her. (The clinician had not yet entered the room so we were free to talk.) Her smile widened as she told me that her father had come the evening before to visit her, and that he was going to pick her up at the end of the day when she was released. She told me they talked and cried, and he told her he wanted her to come home. She knew they had a long road ahead, but love had conquered all. As I sat there, tears streaming down my face, I quietly thanked God, for I once again experienced that love truly did cover a multitude of sins. Their deep love for one another covered them both.