Support and friendship have been the theme today. God has surprised me again by how people pull together in times of need...no matter how small that need may be.
My supervisor's husband is a very healthy 30-something year old man, Four days ago, he got so sick that when she came upstairs after getting home from work, he was sitting in bed in the dark, drenched in sweat, in severe pain, vomitting, and begging for her to take him to see a doctor. Yesterday, he was finally admitted to the hospital after being misdiagnosed by several doctors. Every day at work, the 5 of the rest of us on our team have asked our supervisor how her husband is and when she isn't there, one of us keeps the others in the loop about what's going on. Yesterday, she texted me to keep me posted on what tests they were doing and what his demeanor was. She was so scared....and she doesn't scare easily. He was laying there in the hospital bed crying. He couldn't stop crying. He never cries. This terrified her. He had a horrible headache, pain around his liver, white blood cell count over 16,000, no food or liquid for 4 days, lethargic, incoherent....Wow. What do you say to that? I was the last one at the office last night when I received that text so I passed it on to the other 4 girls and asked the two that I know are Christians to stop what they were doing and we would all pray for them. Shortly after that, I received a text from one of the others who is not a Christian that said, "You know we all have different ways of praying. I'm praying for her in my own way." Before I left work, I called my step-dad to ask him to put Victoria and Aziz on the prayer chain. Now several teams of people who don't even know them are praying for them. On my way home from work, my best friend called me from Las Vegas (also not a Christian). I told him about the situation and he said he would pray for them if that would help. Wow again.
My mom is usually the one who I call with urgent prayer requests because she is part of that prayer chain. However, she is at camp this week serving alongside many other staff who are part of an amazing team of Christian men and women. This team prepares for months before camp, to make sure the "kids" (teenagers through age 20) have a blessed week. This year, as in all other years, there are kids who need more support than others. This is a place for healing. Almost everyone comes with some kind of hurt they need fixed or question that they come with that needs answered, hoping at the end of the week their baggage can be left behind as they head home refreshed. And God always delivers. This team of men and women are counselors, really. Not professional by anyone else's standards but God's. Because He has called them to this. They pull together in prayer over these kids, serve them individually as needed....and a lot of that is needed....even if it's just that a camper is lonely and needs someone to talk to about things. It's just a powerful experience when you know you are where you are supposed to be, doing what God has prepared you to do, and you touch lives in a way that only He could orchestrate. This team is doing that as we speak.
Humanity is good. There is lots of good around us. Sometimes we see humanity as bad overall because that's what is emphasized the most by our media and our culture. But God made us each with a heart to reach out to others in time of need. I thank God for those who have done so to me....and also that He uses me to do the same for others.
Surprise us, God. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment