Sarah, a twenty-nine-year-old young woman, was staring at the ceiling in her hospital room and contemplating a host of desperate questions about her bleak future. Due to a freak accident, she had broken vertebrae in her neck and was diagnosed with incomplete paraplegia. According to the doctors, she would likely never walk again, nor recover fine motor skills with her fingers. Additionally, she would lose control of basic bodily functions and would live the rest of her life in a care home and a wheelchair.
This dark night, her thoughts swirled. What kind of life could she have now? Would she be able to work, finish school, have relationships, or make anything of her future? And where was God? Was He done with her, angry at the 10 years of running from her faith? Was this her punishment?
Enter a light. A nurse, who was one of the many anonymous people attending to her every day, paused long enough to see a struggling young woman and then chose to live out the words of her savior with action. She came by after her shift to chat and then even prayed for Sarah, demonstrating God’s love and compassion. Sarah was deeply touched by her love.
Then, in another care facility, yet another nurse who followed Jesus, would come by after her shift to talk and read Scripture and pray with Sarah, filling her heart with words of God’s love, grace and truth. Before long it was clear to Sarah that God was there with her in the midst of her tragedy, as one healthcare worker after another shined the light of their faith in kind words of encouragement, prayer, friendship and support. She was convinced that God wasn’t done with her.
This simple workplace witness changed Sarah’s life. I know, because she is my daughter, and she will talk often of the kind faith-filled actions of Christian healthcare workers who provided a lifeline when she was sinking into despair.