" By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35.)
Working in a doctor's office, while very rewarding most days, can make you very jaded towards people if you are not careful. Most of our patient population is made up of wonderful, hardworking, family oriented people who just want to get their medicine and get well so they can get on with their daily business. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I love my job.
Then, there are the other one percent. These are patients that have figured out the exact right words to say to get whatever drug they have decided they need that day and are very unhappy when they figure out that they are not going to get it. Unfortunately, the ravages of a life led in that manner are immediately recognizable in a person's appearance, and I am ashamed to admit that I sometimes judge people and categorize them by the way they look. Most of the time, my perceptions are correct, but every now and then I am blessedly proven wrong.
Such was the case about 2 months ago. A very slight, very nervous woman came into the clinic, obviously in distress. She was very tiny, maybe ninety eight pounds, and time had not been kind to her. Her face was very drawn and she appeared at least fifteen years older than the date of birth on her chart. She moved in a very jerky manner, seemingly unable to control her facial movements and spoke in broken sentences in between tears and groans. I braced myself, expecting her to tell me that she needed some sort of narcotic medication for whatever ailment was causing her jerky movements and facial contortions.
Instead, she explained to me that her husband had passed away the month prior and that she had been unable to eat, sleep, or even function since he had passed. She tearfully told me that she just needed something to help her cope because she could not handle the grief she was dealing with anymore.
I immediately felt about two inches tall for pre-judging her. I spoke quietly and gently to her, expressing my sympathy for her loss, and ushered her into the exam room. Before closing the door, I noticed a small, silver cross hanging around her neck.
As I closed the door and headed back towards the nurses station to enter her information into the computer, I felt that familiar tug at my heart that I have come to recognize as the Holy Spirit saying to me "Ask her if you can pray with her. "
I quickly charted her information and walked back into the exam room and asked her if she was a Christian. She told me that yes, she had been, but that she had fallen away from church in the past few years. I then asked her if I could pray with here. Immediately, what could only be described as relief crossed her tearstained, pain-filled face as she exclaimed "YES! Please." I took her hands in mine and began to pray for her. She collapsed on my chest and cried on my scrub top as I asked God to give her comfort, to let her know He was there with her in the midst of her pain and that if she would cry out to Him for help He would answer her and shower her with His love. The more I prayed the harder she cried and I began to tear up too. Finally, I said Amen, sat the sobbing woman gently down in a chair in the exam room to wait for the doctor and excused myself to go wipe my own eyes and regain my composure.
I am blessed to work for a wonderful Christian doctor whose R.N. is a pastor's wife, and I told them about what the woman I had prayed with was going through. When they went in they prayed and counseled with her too. By the time it was time for me let her go home the woman was just sitting in a chair, quietly weeping and saying over and over again "At the doctor's office? Who would have thought it-at the doctor's office? Praise the Lord."
That sentence stuck with me-"At the doctor's office?" It immediately touched me and made me wonder, how many times have I missed an opportunity to share God's love with someone? He places us in the communities we live in, the churches we attend and the places we work so that we can be His hands and feet to the world. How many people had I just written off as having an agenda and not tried to see if there was something I could do for them, a prayer that I could say for them? The sentence really should be "Why NOT at the doctor's office?" or "Why NOT at the bank, school, fast food restaurant..?" etc. Why should there be ANY place where people don't encounter God through us? In the book of John, Christ tells us “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35.) We are to delcare ourselves to the world as Christ's disciples by our love for those around us.
The woman left and tearfully thanked us, assuring us that she would continue praying. She walked out the doors of the clinic and I hoped that what we had said would stick with her.
I had almost forgotten about the fragile grieving widow until last week when we received a card from her the mail. Inside the card were these beautiful words:
"I came into your clinic seeking medication to help me deal with the grief of losing my husband. What I recieved was so much better than any pill. I receieved a spiritual healing that I am still in awe of to this day."
Amen sweet sister. God obviously orchestrated the woman's visit to our clinic that day because He knew her soul needed healing as much as her body did. What a tragedy it would have been had we not answered the call the show His love to her. I pray that I will always have my eyes open to see the need for God's love and comfort in the people around me. How about you?
Dear Father, Please forgive me for all the missed opportunities to share Your love with the lost and hurting. Lord, please help me to be bold in the future to share Your love and Your truth with those who need You most God. Let me be known as Yours by my love. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
