An accident nearly 10 years ago that left Jeanisa Moore paralyzed should have also destroyed her ability to sing. Instead, Moore has been able to use her songs – and her story – to touch many lives in the years since.
Moore plays with children in Costa Rica during a 2006 mission trip. The children had never seen anything like her motorized wheelchair. She let some of the children ride in her lap.The accident happened on Dec. 27, 2003. While she was cleaning windows in her attic, Moore lost her footing and crashed through the ceiling to the floor below. The fall broke the ribs on her right side, damaged her diaphragm and broke her spine in two places, paralyzing her instantly.
Weeks later, Moore was preparing to move from Cross Hill, her hometown in Laurens County, to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for physical rehabilitation. With her church family gathered to send her off with prayer, Moore felt God prompting her to begin singing: “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for You.”
Everyone, even some of the nurses, joined in singing the hymn. Moore continued to sing “Sanctuary” every day during her rehab.
“It was encouraging to me, and it was encouraging to the other patients,” Moore said. “A sanctuary is a place of peace and joy, of love and forgiveness. All of these words just kept coming in my mind, and I realized then that a sanctuary [was what God] wanted me to be to these other patients.”
When Moore completed rehab, she returned to her home in Cross Hill and spent 18 months working for her church, Siloam Baptist in Ninety Six, before she felt called to move on to a new ministry. She began sharing her story and songs at churches, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. She went on mission trips to Kentucky and Costa Rica to share her message of hope.
In Costa Rica, Moore told her story to women and girls living in an area rife with abuse and prostitution. She was able to lead women to the Lord and encourage them toward freedom, but she felt that the Lord called her to Costa Rica for one family in particular.
While she and her group were traveling, she saw a man, Manuel, in a wheelchair outside his home. Every morning when she prayed, Moore saw Manuel’s face in her mind, and she knew she needed to speak with him. When her team traveled to the area where she first saw Manuel, they helped Moore search for him. It was pouring rain, and no one knew exactly where Manuel lived. When they finally found his home, Moore introduced herself to him and his family. Through a translator, she shared with him her story and the gospel, and Manuel, along with his daughter, son and daughter-in-law, all accepted Christ.
“Many people have been saved – through this wheelchair,” said Moore, “and it’s a glory and an honor to do that.”
Moore’s ministry was thriving, but adversity struck again in 2012 when doctors discovered she had six brain hematomas. In September of last year, she was placed on life support in order to get her through brain surgery. After the operation, however, attempts to wean her off life support failed.
Knowing of her wish not to be kept indefinitely on life support, Moore’s husband and daughter made the difficult decision to remove her from the ventilator.
“When she was lying there, all I could think was, if only I could hear her say ‘I love you’ one more time,” said Darrell, her husband of 34 years. “You don’t think about those things till it’s the end.”
With a doctor standing by ready to make the death pronouncement, Moore was taken off life support. Amazingly, she began breathing on her own. Within 15 minutes, her breathing was at 100 percent.
“God really performed a miracle with me,” Moore said.
“Every day now is a bonus,” said Darrell. “The Lord is blessing us each day with another day we can share life together.”
Moore’s recovery not only blessed her and her family, it also served as an encouragement to others. Jason Webb, senior pastor at Siloam Baptist Church, said Moore’s determination “is just inspirational” to people. “It encourages them no matter what they are going through,” he said.
Moore, 53, has made great strides in recuperating from her latest health issues, and in recent weeks she began ministering again by visiting a nursing home and sharing with a group of women.
“I don’t know what God has in store for me,” she said. “He hasn’t told me what he wants me to do now, but I want to share his word. Everywhere I go, I try to do that.
“I try to still be that sanctuary. I’m just waiting, because I know when he tells me something, it’s going to be great.”