Dearest Lord Jesus,
You know her.
You see her. You hear her. You love her.
She spent the night in the ER, in the room next
to mine. I listened to her as she tried
to explain to her dad on the phone what had happened to her. She came in by ambulance. I heard her explain to the nurse how she cut
her toe with glass, hurt her knee and shoulder, when she slipped on water on
the kitchen floor.
“Dad! Please listen to me!” I saw her from where I lay in my own bed,
through the slight crack in the curtain, as she wiped tears from her eyes. He had hung up on her. I could hear her plea as she called him
again, “Dad! I’m trying to tell you what
happened to me! I almost lost
consciousness! Dad? Dad?”
She put her phone down and I could see her chest rise and fall with
deep, painful emotion.
Soon I could hear her outburst of tourettes and
her apologies to those around her. She
tried her dad again. “Dad, I think Mom
is coming to be with me.” The night went
on. A mother never came. I heard her tell the nurse once that she
believed her shoulder was dislocated, but when she was alone she moved about
normally. Once she lifted her hand to
wipe a tear and I saw them. The scars up
her arm. In that moment her silent cries
were deafening.
I prayed
and asked you to give me an opportunity to tell her You love her, but you never
did. I could barely move on my bed for
the searing pain in my head. They had
put me in a room with walls and a door, because my pain was so bad, but before
they had even brought this woman in I had asked them to please leave my door
open. I really had no reason why I asked
them to do that, but now I know why. You
wanted me to see. To hear. To feel.
To intercede.
The dad eventually showed up. “Dad, you should see my toe.” He ignored her and my husband could see him
go to the back corner of the room. She
started to explain what happened and stopped suddenly, “Dad! Please, I just
want to tell you what happened to me.”
She suddenly started having tourette’s outburst again and her dad
started yelling, “Stop it! Just STOP
IT!”. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice
quivering, “I’m so sorry.”
More silent tears, her chest heaving with
emotion. I longed to get up and tell her
she IS loved! My heart cried for the
soul next to me. That precious, hurting
soul.
The pain paralyzed me and earlier I had been
pondering why I couldn’t have noticed a rising infection during the day hours,
so I could have gone to my doctor instead of the emergency room….but You
wanted me there. At that very
moment, at that timing, You wanted me there. Not because I am good or great or faithful,
but because YOU are good and great and faithful. So, when the bills roll in, we will count it
a blessing to have been used by You on this night. You wanted to use me to intercede and to love
someone I do not even know.
I remembered your newest lesson to me these
past few weeks and felt you impress them upon my heart. Prayer is the greatest weapon. So as I laid there, I watched and I
interceded for this young woman. I, and
my family, continue to pray, believing You will show Yourself to her in mighty
ways.
You know her.
You see her. You hear her. You love her.
You are God.
You are good. You are faithful.
I believe You have a plan, and I look forward
to and long for the day when I get to see what that plan was….what it is. Oh that day when our faith becomes our sight!
Until that day, thank you for being faithful to
complete Your good work in me.
In Your Holy Name,
Amen.
