Patti's God-drenched world

Two months ago my friend underwent brain surgery for cancer. This was followed by 6 weeks of chemo. Then a cyst grew where the cancer had been and she lost use of her left side. Another surgery and now she is home sleeping a lot as she awaits another round of chemo. I phoned from another state. I hadn’t seen her in two years. She hears my voice and warmly responds with - ‘Pastor Dean’.  I’m not sure what to say to encourage her. ‘God is good even when it’s hard,’ I say.  She responds, ‘Oh it’s more than that. I delight in God. He is wonderful. Every morning I look out my window and see a wooden cross. I say, Thank you Heavenly Father, wonderful Savior, Holy Spirit and comforter.  Every night before I go to sleep I look at that cross and I repeat my prayer.’  ‘Before surgery,’ she goes on, ‘My husband prayed over me. A nurse saw us and asked what we were doing. I told her we were praying and she asked if she could pray too. She joined us praying beautifully in Hebrew.’

“How God’s hand moves when we trust Him”, she goes on, “when we reach out to Him, His hand is moving out to us. He’s right there. One night I lay there while my husband slept in his easy chair in the next room.  I prayed. ‘God I really want to talk with Brian. Would you wake Him up?’  Immediately I heard him stir and climb out of his chair. He came into the room saying, ‘I don’t know what woke me up.’ But I knew!” 

She continues, ‘You know, I still have work to do, to reach people.’ ‘She ministers to everyone she meets’, Brian had told me. She goes on, “My doctor told me”, ‘I know your work isn’t done yet.  Your attitude is wonderful.’  She says, ‘I told my doctor one day that I saw green bushes along the way as I went to feed my horses. My husband told me there were no green bushes. The doctor told me that folks often hallucinate with my kind of surgery. But he said that they often see terrible things’.  She said, ‘Sometimes I see children on white ponies.’  Her doctor responded - ‘I love you, Patti. It tells me who you are as a person.’  

Whose doctor says that!? What a place this world would be if we all ministered in a God-drenched world like Patti does!