The Spirit's Prompting

Well, tonight I was studying and trying to write my paper for my course.  I was really struggling to gather my thoughts and put them into some sort of coherence.  However, nothing I tried was working so I got up and went out on my deck, my lovely deck, and sat on the swing and stared out at the mountains.  Enjoying the warmth with a bit of a breeze, I let go and just relaxed and began to pray. 

"God, help me to concentrate.  I can't do this, I need your help!" 

And then into my head popped Gladys.  Gladys is a woman who comes to our church.  She's getting up there in years and has been in the hospital for a couple of months now.  She is such a sweetheart and is always encouraging.  Gladys has been a member of The Salvation Army for so long and only came to Maple Ridge a few years ago.  But I'm always so happy when she's in church because she is so encouraging.  So I thought, "I need to go and visit Gladys, perhaps tomorrow."  But no, the words were right there in my head - get up and go now.  But it was almost the end of visiting hours and I reasoned that tomorrow would be fine.  But that feeling wouldn't go away.  So up I got and went - hubby and the kids aren't here, no one to look after, just me.  I can go.  I can do what I want. 

Gotta tell ya, I don't like visiting hospitals.  There is something about it that drains me emotionally and I always leave the hospital/funeral stuff to my dear hubby.  I can't do both administration and all the pastoral stuff at the same time - I just can't turn it off and on like that. It was also the first time I'd been up to that ward since my mom passed away there last October.

Gladys seemed a bit off at first.  She was subdued and I thought, "Man, she's really losing it, this is like what happened to my mom."  I held her hand and it was really limp.  She seemed to be talking a lot of nonsense, asking me about things that I knew nothing about.  Anyway, after a while she asked me if I was still doing flower arranging and it occurred to me that she thought I was someone else.  Sure enough, she thought I was someone from Abbotsford.  She didn't recognize me because it's only just recently that I've let my hair go curly (who can fight it!) and I got new glasses.  When she realized who I was, it was just too funny. 

The look of horror on her face was priceless. 

Then the laughs started and the jokes were flying and the good hearted newfie girl was all smiles for me!  That's when the real visit started.

We sang some great songs... He Touched Me, Amazing Grace, Blessed Assurance... It is Well With My Soul.... (the nurses came to listen) We laughed some more.  We read God's word together and we prayed.  We talked about the important things, the things that are important to God.  We talked about His will for us - His perfect will and what His purpose is for us.  What a grand and glorious time it was.

I was feeling so down about my lack of concentration. I told her that I had left my studies at home to take a break and she asked me all about them.

"You're a great leader!" she said.  "You're a special person."

My heart was full. Gladys always has an encouraging word for me.

God told me to come here for a good reason.

Obedience is always the best way.

I love you Gladys.  See you again soon....

grace... kathie