The Importance of Being There
I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.—2 John 1:12 (NIV)
Sing praises to God, sing praises . . .—PSALM 47:6 [NIV]
The ICU is not often a happy place. It’s quiet, and somber and lonely. There is a lot of waiting done there. On this particular day, I was waiting for my husband, Mike, to get better.
“We’re taking him down for an MRI,” a nurse told me. She carefully readied Mike since he was hooked up to four banks of monitors. She attached his oxygen tube to a portable unit. She, another nurse, and two techs pushed his bed and all his equipment out of the ward.
After they left, I had trouble finding God there in that silent room. I thought about how Mike was slipping. I’d watched him go from a nasal cannula to an oxygen mask, and then to a ventilator. His fever spiked. Diagnoses were complicated. I felt alone.
Then the housekeeper breezed in. As she cleaned, I heard her singing softly. I could only hold my head in my hands and let the tears flow. “What’s the matter?” she asked me.
I swallowed hard. “He’s not getting better,” I said.
In answer, she raised her voice. Her heartfelt hymn flowed across the room. “Leaning on the everlasting arms,” she sang. We didn’t exchange another word. But as her hymn went on, I felt my spirit lift with hope. I felt held tight in those everlasting arms.
Thank you, Jesus, for the many ways you speak to us, sometimes even through the voices of strangers.
I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.—2 John 1:12 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.—2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)
The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.—Proverbs 19:8 (NIV)