1Peter 4:7 Love will cover a multitude of sins.
It was September of 2005 and I had just started my job at the hospital. I was taking care of a young woman with end-stage AIDS. Her body was severely battered by years of drug addiction and AIDS had taken its toll on her. All she wanted to do was lie in bed and wait for her pain medications. She looked like a shell of a person lying there. There was no eye contact, no expression. She didn't want to shower or even talk. She just waited to die. Her condition saddened me and I called out to the Lord for help. God placed her on my heart and I started to pray for her daily. I asked that the Lord how I could minister to her and also that He would open a door so I could share with her about the love of Jesus. Day after day as I cared for her, I would try different avenues to get on the subject, but the door was completely closed. I remember telling the Lord that it was impossible to share with her because her heart was closed to anything spiritual. She was discharged from the hospital one day and I never saw her again.
Over a year later, I returned from the hospital after maternity leave. I hadn’t worked for some time. I grabbed my coffee and listened to report. I was surprised when I heard Becky was one of my patients. I was sure she had probably passed away. During morning rounds, I went into her room and she was sitting up in a chair writing in a journal. Becky was reading a little prayer book that one of the priests from the hospital had given her. I introduced myself again and told her that I remembered her. She shared a little bit about herself. Becky said that she had gotten into drugs very early in life. She explained that she had three kids, all of which she had lost custody of, and she had gotten AIDS from IV drug use. I had a small window of opportunity to tell her just a little bit about what Jesus had done in my life. She was a little more open about talking about spiritual things, but she still seemed distant and had a wall up. Every chance I got, I glorified God and shared all that God was doing in my life. I had hoped and prayed that God would open a door for me to share how Jesus wanted to give her a new life, but as the days went by, I realized the opportunity to do this was slipping by. Her discharge date was set in a couple of days.
The next day, I drove across town to Gospel Supplies so I could buy her a bible. It wasn't just any bible. I wanted to get her one with big letters because she had AIDS-related meningitis that damaged her eyes. I also wanted to get her name engraved on it so that she could call this bible her own. I went and purchased her pretty, red bible and I brought it up to her in hopes that we would be able to talk more. She seemed thankful, but I still never had an opportunity to share with her about this matchless love that can only come from Jesus.
It was over a month later and a day before Thanksgiving, 2005, I stopped in to work because I had to pick up some paperwork. I wasn’t even in my uniform, but I heard someone from behind me call my name. I turned around and it was Becky. She said excitedly, "I have been looking for you." She told me that she had a relapse with her drugs and she had gotten readmitted to the hospital three days earlier. For the past three days, she had been walking up and down the hallways looking for me and wondering if I was going to be at work. She had just prayed that she would see me and there I was! I walked with her for a while. I noticed how broken she looked. She had really come to the end of her rope. She explained she wanted to find me to let me know how special her bible was to her. She said, “I had no idea that you had engraved my name on the cover of the bible. I have shown every doctor and nurse who comes into my room my new bible and I hold it up and say this is my bible!” Friends, may we never underestimate the power of love. It covers a multitude of sin and it NEVER fails. Becky went on to explain that every time she felt like doing drugs, she would pull her bible out and read it. When she did, the feelings to go and do drugs would leave her. It made me want to cry for her. I saw her in her eyes how much she longed to be free and that God had touched her heart through His Word.
She invited me to sit with her for a while and the anointing of God was in the room. I shared that I had been praying for her and I sensed the Lord had opened the door for this appointment. I asked Becky if I could share with her how she could go to heaven. God had totally opened up her heart and she listened intently to everything I said. When I asked her if she wanted to repent and receive eternal life, she nodded her head and closed her weary eyes as I led her in prayer. She sat on her hospital bed repenting and asking Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. For the first time, I saw joy light up her face. I just wanted to cry with her because I knew that the Lord set a wretch like me free and He was doing His mighty work again. He had created another beautiful masterpiece by His blood.
Right before I left Becky’s room, I asked if I could lay hands on her and pray for her health. She asked if I could pray for healing of her body and that God would deliver her from her drug addiction. I prayed over her and spoke the Word of God over her and her addiction. I told her the Lord had the power to deliver her and she could believe Him because He was worthy. I have never seen such a change in a person's demeanor as I saw after she had received the powerful blood of Jesus. Praise God that even when we give up on ourselves, He is faithful to never give up on us.
As I walked down the hall and out of the hospital, I realized how much I had to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. I thought about my own salvation and how freely Jesus forgave a sinful woman like me. I write this to encourage all of you on this Thanksgiving 2010. For all of you who have prayed for your family and friends to be saved and have lost hope, be encouraged on this Thanksgiving season and believe with me for the salvation of our loved ones. The Lord’s hand is not too short to reach those we see as unreachable. We serve a God who has the power to heal and save mightily. I prayed for this woman that I didn't even know and God answered me in all of His glory and power. Now what more do you think our Father in heaven will do for those His own children hold up in prayer? When it really comes down to it, what else is there? It’s just God's perfect love for us and the precious gift of salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving as we see the Lord’s work in our own lives and as we continue to see the gospel go out and touch the lives of those we see who do not yet know Him.
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