Mim 1996 - 2008

We would like to tell to you a special story about an eleven year old girl called Mim. We have never met her. She is a friend of one of last year's Children's Church kids. She told us about her friend Mim who had terminal cancer and could we pray for her. We did that Sunday. At Christmas time we got a card and a little journal from Mim. The card read: "Thank you for your love and prayers. The doctor used to say I had seven months. Over the last week that you have prayed for me, he has extended it to fourteen months! God bless you! Love, Mim."

In the journal we found a collection of meaningful quotes that Mim had obviously found and recorded. They represented a huge range of thought including personal statements by her such as: "I hope that when I pass I will be remembered, not as the girl who had cancer, but as the girl who left her imprint on the world." We were blown away by this gift from someone who we had never met and by the maturity of one so young. Just because our Children's Church prayed for her one Sunday back in November we were given this link with her. After about thirty pages of the journal she had written: "Fill your own phrases and sayings in the next pages." This we have done, drawing from our own sources from stuff we have read ourselves. There are still many more pages to go.

After Christmas we were told that Mim was recovering from being hit by a car. Her recovery was more dicey because of her chemotherapy but she was recovering. We wanted to build an increased awareness of Mim and increase her prayer cover, to include the rest of our Children's Church every Sunday. We felt challenged by this whole event and felt called to respond as best we could. Mim had become a special prayer project for this year.

Then we were told she had died during the week. It came as a surprise and an enormous disappointment for us, especially the children who had remembered to pray for her. There are hazards in praying for healing. We wear our faith on our shoulder and hope for a miracle. Now have to move on and somehow try to make sense of it all, and of course to pray for Mim's family in their loss and sorrow.

Now all we have is Mim's most precious journal of her thoughts and findings and her Christmas card. We remember her words: "I hope that when I pass I will be remembered, not as the girl who had cancer, but as the girl who left her imprint on the world." We hope that we can help that imprint to be realised.