I was in a hotel in Wisconsin with my parents just recently. It was late at night and we had split up and gone into our separate rooms. I started to get ready to sleep only to realize that I had no toothpaste. My first instinct was to run to my parents’ room; I knew my mother would have some since she always over packs. But, as I reached for the door knob, something told me to go downstairs and ask for toothpaste at the front desk. I tried to reason this voice away, thinking “I’m too tired,” “mom’s room is just a few steps away, why go all the way downstairs, blah…blah…blah”
But, I listened to the voice in my heart and headed downstairs. I met a young lady at the front desk and I just thought to start a conversation with her. She told me that she was going to be starting college this fall, studying a program for people in medicine that scan the body for disease (I can’t remember the exact term she used, but fill me in if you know it). When I asked her how she developed that interest, she said that a few years ago, her doctor found cancerous cells in her neck when she had gone for a body scan. Even though radiology had been successful back then, her doctor recently found two new lumps in her neck.
Something like a passionate anger welled up inside me, and when I asked, she allowed me to pray for her – she said she believes there is a God, but prayer is something she does not do. We held each other’s hands, and I prayed for healing in her body. What moved me about this experience was her expression after we had prayed. She lit up like I had given her a million dollars; I think what touched her was the fact that a complete stranger would express love and concern for her without knowing much about her; and without expecting anything back.
I have not heard of the results of this girl’s next medical check up. But because of the way these events unfolded, and above all, God’s healing power, I believe those new lumps in her neck will disappear. To readers who understand this, the harvest is absolutely plentiful…a big lesson I learned that night. It takes a heart of love (God’s love) and a sensitive and empowered spirit to win it. That’s the state I always want to be in – God’s love agent on earth.