Recently one of my good friends had surgery and was admitted
to the hospital for recovery after the procedure. As her friend I of course
wanted to do everything I could to make sure she was okay. Whenever I initially
stepped foot into the hospital I wanted to turn right back around and leave. I
have not been in a hospital since my mother passed away last year. So many
memories flooded my head as I began to walk down the hallway. I found myself
repeating the same Bible verse I did the whole 10 months my mom was in the
hospital...
“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my
soul.” Psalm 94:19
No matter how worried I made myself get I could always turn
to that verse. If I just thought on the Lord it was hard not to be comforted
and relieved.
My stomach was turning in knots as I entered the room to see
my friend. I felt as if I was going through everything all over again. I could
just picture my mom laying in that hospital bed suffering. It has been very
easy for me to avoid the fact that my mother is no longer on this earth. Being
away at college I never have to think about it and no one has to know. There
are no memories of her there, and I can make myself avoid it. Pretty selfish of
me, isn’t it? The Lord has allowed me to go through everything so that I can
help others. Time and time again the Lord has showed Himself to me in ways that
I could not describe to you. Sitting in the hospital every day this week has
brought me back to a reality that I need to face. Everything I am doing is a
waste if I am trying to avoid what God has placed before me. It is wrong for me
to try to forget and not think about the precious trial the Lord has allowed me
to go through. There is no way I can be an effective witness if I do that.
Almost right after I regained focus of where the Lord has and
wants me, I received a text from a girl I go to college with. She asked me to
call and encourage her friend that just lost her Mom to cancer several hours
before she contacted me. How could I have called that girl if I was doing
everything I could not to think about what God has placed in my life? Today I
am reminded that I am not the only 20 year-old girl in the world without a
mother, and I won’t be the last. I don't why it happened, but sometimes the only answer we have to every
situation is that God holds the answer. We can then encourage others to hold on
to that same hope and cry and pray with them as we remember feeling the same
way they did when it happened to us. May we never avoid the trials we face. We
will never be able to help someone else if we do.
“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be
able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God.” II
Corinthians 1:4
