There’s a standing joke about the patient in a drafty hospital gown struggling in vain to keep the back flaps closed and thinking, “Now I know why they call it – ICU!”
Last week, after visiting my hardy and relatively healthy Mom for several days with the specific purpose of helping her and local family proactively prepare for the time, down the road, when she might need in-home caregiver and skilled help, we were all somewhat surprised by a health event that sent her to the Intensive Care Unit.
When I first got to town, before Mom’s ICU trip, the daily reading included Proverb 6:20, which encourages us, “…do not forsake the law of your mother…” so I asked Mom if there were any “laws” that she particularly wanted me to follow in life. She thought a while, then revisited a teaching she had consistently shared since my early childhood – God sees everything you do (Proverb 5:21 and 15:3).
That reminded me of a story in Genesis about a runaway pregnant slave girl who encountered the Angel of the Lord by a spring in the wilderness. He told her to return to her harsh mistress, and promised to multiply her descendants. In response, she called Him El Roi “The-God-Who-Sees.” (Genesis 16:13)
When Mom’s husband of 67 years died in 2006, she stood alone in her big, empty house and asked God, “Who am I now?” In that moment, El Roi answered her heart,
“You are My child, and I will walk with you.”
Mom’s hospital stay was painful for her and stressful for us, but so many blessings emerged that it soon became abundantly apparent that God’s watchful presence hovered over all. Here are just a few examples:
- Strong spirit of love and cooperation between family members as the Body of Christ. Good opportunities to improve communication and understanding.
- Multiple opportunities for family members to express honor and love in ways that Mom can feel.
- The hospital’s Director of Imaging bought my lunch! (a story unto itself).
- Bumped into a high school friend who just happened to be the hospital’s Director of Engineering and Security. He personally made sure that the annoying intermittent loud whooshing sound in Mom’s room vent, that had steadily been getting worse (we had nicknamed it “The Whale”), stopped that same day.
- Mom gave us all a priceless example to follow when she mustered the poise and courage to allow a procedure she greatly feared, but that brought instant relief and vastly hastened her recovery.
- Mom came home from the hospital just 15 minutes before I had to leave for the airport and I had the joy of seeing her comfortable in her recliner again.
No one wants to be in the ICU, or to see a loved one there, but for the Thinking Christian Woman, the acronym “ICU’ can be transformed into a confident reminder that El Roi, The-God-Who-Sees, constantly affirms – “I see you!”
© 2011 Melody K. Anderson
All Rights Reserved
7 Responses to “I see you!”
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience of the Godly presence in your lives and what can exist even in tough times. I will certainly keep this in mind as we face tough days with my mother in stages of dementia and know what is coming. To always draw events in reference to God’s word.
I thank God for the privilege I have had to know Mr & Mrs. A as well as the rest of your family and the examples you have shown in always living for God and sharing His Word.
Thank you Brenda. Wonderful to hear from you! How did you happen to come across this blog post? May God continue to bless you, your family and your mother with His palpable presence.
i particularly loved this one. Thank you for such good insight. I agree it was an event blessed in many many ways.
There were so many memorable things that seemed to have God’s fingerprints all over them. Wish I’d kept better notes, but at least these recorded here can serve as a memorial fraction of the whole.
“Mom came home from the hospital just 15 minutes before I had to leave for the airport and I had the joy of seeing her comfortable in her recliner again.”
Talk about orchestrated timing! I hope those were memorable minutes.
They were Tracy. I walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the house watching for my sister’s car. Then I helped Mom out and up the ramp using her walker. As I knelt so we could be at eye level, her eyes glistened and she said, “This isn’t goodbye; it’s just one step.” We both knew, this time more than ever, that though we might not see each other again on this earth, we would most certainly see each other again. Thank You Jesus!
Thanks for sharing how the Lord spoke to you in this event! I particularly love how you tied ICU to I See You. I’ll always think of it that way now! I love that the Lord always takes careful watch over His children. Thanks for brining this to light!