On this occasion she had been successful, but it didn’t always turn out that way. There were many times when she would envision someone about to perform a dreadful act, but found herself incapable of intervening and altering the course of events. God gave us free will, she reasoned, but God also permitted evil to exist in the world, and when the enemy was determined, he was a vicious adversary. These times were excruciatingly painful for her, both physically and emotionally. As the years went on, she learned to sense when she was outmatched, and, with rare exceptions, she would step out of the situation.

As a teenager, she had struggled at times. She was proud of her gift, and would forget that it wasn’t something she had earned, that it didn’t make her better than others. At times pride would overtake her. Once, she told a friend about her gift (referring to it as a “power”), and the girl challenged her to prove herself by curing her brother, who had been born with a club foot. Joanna was tempted to do so, and tried, but she drew a blank. Disappointed, her friend accused her of being a fraud.

At dinner that night, she told her mother about the incident, and Joan knew the time had come for a serious discussion.

“Joanna,” she said, “you and I both know that you have been given a very special ability, but it’s only through the grace of God that you have it, and so it’s not to be trifled with. I don’t know why you were given this talent, but it’s clear that God selected you because He knew you would know how to use it properly. You can’t heal anyone; you can only petition God to heal someone. I don’t know why He seems to hear you when He doesn’t hear others, or why He allows you to know things that others don’t, but—”

“But, maybe God wants me to heal others like the apostles were able to heal people in His name after Jesus was resurrected!”

“That may be so, Joanna, and if you are so directed, then so it will be. But I can guarantee you that unless you are humble and quiet about this gift, it will be taken away. God knows that you will be tempted by pride and the desire to be admired and loved by others, and I am sure He does not want you to succumb to those temptations. Remember that the Devil is alive and well and does his work through others who may not even know they are being used.”

She knew her mother was right, and there it was, the part that scared her the most. The Enemy.