The Power of Love

Liangren | English translation: Linda Yang

When Anne was two years old, she suffered from a severe case of trachoma. Left untreated due to her family’s poverty, her eyesight worsened, and so did her temper. Anne was eight years old when her mother died of tuberculosis. Her alcoholic father abandoned Anne, her brother Jimmie, and her sister Mary. Soon after ten-year-old Anne and seven-year-old Jimmie were admitted into an almshouse, living with more than 900 other people. Three months later, Jimmie died of a tubercular hip, with which he had been born. For a number of years, there was no one left in the world to assuage Anne’s sorrow and loneliness…

After suffering these trials, Anne suffered from a psychological condition as a youth. She was admitted into a psychiatric hospital but did not respond to their various methods of treatment. In the end they gave up and confined her to a little room in the basement.
However, there was a pretty young Christian woman working at this hospital. She firmly believed that God created all people to need to be loved, to be cared for. She decided to visit Anne every day at lunchtime to eat with her, read to her, and pray for her that God will release her from her loneliness.
Day after day, this Christian woman came to Anne to read, but Anne made no response. After a few months, she tried talking to Anne, but it was like speaking to a wall. She also brought Anne food, but Anne refused to eat any of it.
One day, this kind-hearted lady discovered that a chocolate-covered nut was missing from the plate, and she derived great encouragement from this and continued to read to Anne and pray for her. Finally, the girl started to speak through the steel bars of her door. Soon after, the woman convinced a doctor to treat Anne once more. They moved her upstairs. Within two years, Anne was told that she is ready to be emitted from the hospital and enjoy a normal life.
But Anne decided to stay. She was extremely grateful of the devoted Christian’s care and love, so she decided to stay and love others in the same way.
Nearly fifty years later, the British Queen hosted a special ceremony, honouring an inspiring American woman—Helen Keller. When asked how she overcame both her disabilities of blindness and deafness, Helen Keller said, “If it weren’t for Ms. Anne Sullivan, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
The Anne Sullivan who had steadfast faith in the ill-tempered, blind and deaf young Helen Keller is the same little Anne we just read about. Because the selfless Christian woman, who believed that the little girl living in the basement of the hospital needed God’s love, was willing to offer love to her, Anne was able to pass that love onto Helen Keller. It’s a miraculous love that reveals her honest spirit.