During the worship time, I reflected on how funny God is to have me talk on a day the sermon is titled "God is Love." This has been the aspect of God, as I look on my journey that sticks out the most. It is the attribute of God that has been most elusive and the most powerful. I can accept He is sovereign, mighty, omnipotent, strong, omnipresent. I could go on and on. But love? That is some thing I have just in the last few years been able to embrace and to accept that He loves me, always.
I have the unique opportunity in my profession as a nurse to witness people at their best and people at their worst. It is my goal to try and care for each patient the way I would want my family, my mom or myself to be treated. I try to remember that each person matters to someone and even if they don’t have a loved one present they matter to God.
My 15 years as a nurse have given me to opportunities to bless others but more frequently it is I who am blessed.
Since moving down here a little over 6 months ago, the feeling of being on an island without connections has sometimes been overwhelming. I came from a small town, a huge family and a network of friends had known most of my life. While I missed the family and friends, I think I missed seeing a familiar face at the grocery store even more. This is how God blessed me when I was able to show His love through my job.
Because of privacy rules, I don’t feel comfortable sharing any names. If you want to know who the other member of this church was in this story, stick around for the second service because that is when she is going to share about this day.
I was taking care of a pleasant elderly lady in the emergency room one day and as I do with a lot of my patients I had spent a fair amount of time just listening to her and talking with her. She had shared with me that she did not have any family here but a god daughter and she would be coming soon. I love hearing people’s stories. I believe everyone has a story and God is using all of our stories together for a reason. And I think that by listening to them you show a person that they are significant.
I was doing some task in the room when the god daughter had arrived and registration was in there taking her information. The registration clerk asked her if she would like to list a church and the lady told her god daughter “Let’s list yours.” The daughter said “Ok, Grace Church.” And I stopped and quickly thought “Are there two Grace Churches?” So there was only one way I knew to differentiate and I said “Do you mean the one that meets at the movie theater?” And she smiled and said “Yes!” And I said “I go to that church too!” That conversation was that simple. But it meant the world to me at the moment because I made a connection with someone. It also opened up the door for this lady to share more about her faith with me and her feelings about her illness.
The story itself would be cool enough if it stopped there. But at the same time in my section we had a young lady who had been in a family dispute with a sibling and many poor choices were made and she ended up in our ER. It took awhile for the mom to come in but when she got there, wow, I think her daughter was wishing she didn’t. That mom walked in that room, shut the door and began a tirade of a mother who had a long, hot summer with her kids. I am sure this wasn’t the first round of drama she had to deal with. You could hear her quite plainly even though the door was shut. Everyone could hear her. She never put those kids down or berated them. She never swore. She was just hot mad at the choices they had made and wanted to point out very plainly that she had warned them and would have no more of it. I think it went of for at least 20 minutes, maybe longer. A few people asked if we were going to call security but there was never a reason to.
That mom finally came out of that room to pull herself together and when she came back in she passed my patients room. Somehow, someway, that mom ended up in there, talking with my new sweet friend. I could hear bits of the conversation and the love of Jesus was shared.
As I think back on the day, I am so thankful that I wasn’t impatient or rushed when she wanted to talk and then when I learned of the connection to Grace I would be sweet. That’s not real.
I also think that lady felt God’s love and presence that day in a real way and was the right person to pour it out to this mom who needed it so much.
That’s how God’s love is. Once you get it and know how wide and high and deep and long it is like it says Ephesians 3:16. It will just spill out. It gives you peace, it makes you bold, and it puts you more in tune with the Holy Spirit’s promptings. You can not ever do the wrong thing when God asks you to show someone His love. It may feel weird or uncomfortable but its right and the blessing you receive will be amazing.
Believe me, I am not always the angel of mercy at work. I am not always patient and I don’t always love very well. Some people are sandpaper people who rub me the wrong way and God puts them in my path because He wants me to show love to all people, not just sweet little ladies. That’s easy to do. As I heard Beth Moore say once, “When you say about someone “They’re killing me! You can probably guess that God is using that person to kill something in you that is not from God.” Things like impatience or judgment or pride. So like every one I am still very much a work in progress.
So that’s my story, well one of them anyway. Oh and PS after I agreed to share this with you, I saw someone I knew at the grocery store. Thank you for letting me share.
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