One Easter Sunday, Sr. Eliana and her sisters were making their thanksgivings after Mass, when they were surprised by a request from one of the Mass attendees. He had a guest visiting for the weekend who really needed to talk—could the sisters pray with her? What happened next was an extraordinary Easter grace.
What do you remember about your experience that day?
I remember that we were exhausted [the sisters coordinated all the Triduum liturgies, including the late-night Easter vigil Mass]. I remember going into the side chapel and sitting down with her and just beginning to chit-chat. I remember how heavy she was. … She was very open with us, but kind of dark and hopeless and broken. She showed great insight into what her struggles were, and their deeper roots. I remember Sr. Elizabeth and I looking at each other and silently, together, realizing: this isn’t going to be a little prayer session. We’re going to do Unbound [a method of deliverance and healing prayer] and we’re going to do the whole thing. Even in the moment, in our tiredness, there was a strength – this is what God has given to us and we’re going to follow the Spirit’s lead.
When did you start to see a change in her?
At one point, when we were breaking soul ties with former boyfriends, that’s when I remember seeing the freedom come about in her and the new life. She felt that she was taking back the authority that she had given to others. She was empowered. She even pumped her fists and put her hands up in the air. She was choosing to reject sin and the lies that the evil one had planted in her heart about herself. She was choosing to accept the grace of God and who she truly is as His child. She was accepting God’s love for her. She was choosing to break ties with her former way of life—the sinful parts of her life. When we prayed the Father’s blessing over her, she was just receiving it. Even her facial features changed. There was light in her eyes. She had hope and joy and peace that she hadn’t had before. I literally felt like I was watching someone being raised from the dead.
How did you feel after witnessing that?
I just remember being so full of joy and so full of awe at God’s power, and so full of praise, that God would do it and that we had a front row seat to watch it happen. We saw God’s resurrection graces applied and active right before our eyes, on Easter Sunday. … We literally watched God work. It was so beautiful!
What is it like for you when you pray Unbound with someone?
It’s very humbling – it’s like walking with someone in their darkest moments, but at the same time, holding the hope out for them. I know what God’s going to do, and they often don’t. As we talk about the really hard stuff in their life, interiorly I’m excited to get it out into the light, because I know God’s going to free them. I’m also very aware of the battle that we’re fighting. We’re doing battle against the enemy. We’re bringing someone to freedom. We’re winning this person back for the Lord, because God has already won.
How is your ministry in praying Unbound a fruit of your own story?
I’m not scared of the darkness because I’ve been in very dark places myself, pretty much to the depths of despair. I’ve experienced God’s light shining into those places, and I’ve experienced His healing and His freedom. That scripture passage – “I was in the depths of the water and he reached down and pulled me out of the depths. He saved me because he loved me.” (cf. Psalm 18:17-20) – I feel like that’s me. Now, when I go with people into those dark places, I’m not afraid, I’m not scandalized, I’m not ashamed, and I’m not shocked at all, because I’ve been there before. I know that we’re going there for freedom. I know that we’re not going there to wallow in it.
What would you say to anyone reading this?
This is the freedom that God wants for every one of us, and He wants it for us every day, not just on big occasions or only with big brokenness or big sin. He wants it for even the smallest, little insignificant wounds or sins – He wants freedom there. This freedom is meant for you.
Find out more about Unbound Ministry ® here.
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-Sr. Eliana Day, T.O.R.
