The Love of God

A new hospital is being built in our town. It is a much needed addition. Mercy is currently the worst hospital I have ever entered in the US. I have seen third world hospitals, and there is something about Mercy that feels third world. You go into a time warp. The shape of the elevators, the four bed rooms with people coughing and calling out all around feels like a foreign country, a foreign place, foreign.

When I walked into Susie’s room this morning she looked at me as if I was a foreigner. I could tell by the look in her swollen eyes that she didn’t recognize me. She spoke sweetly and knew she should know who I was but she couldn’t figure it out.

I sat down on the bed, took her hands in mine and said, “Hi Susie, it’s Pastor Olivia.” She immediately knew who I was then. She felt terrible that she couldn’t recognize me right off the bat. She was embarrassed. I wasn’t upset at all. After all, here she is in a foreign place—she’s used to being home. She has foreign substances coursing through her veins. She is under an unusual amount of stress because of the health problems she is facing. It didn’t bother me at all that I wasn’t recognized.

It wasn’t just me that wasn’t recognizable. As the conversation continued it was clear that her mind was not cooperating with her. She forgot names of family members. Tried to remember my husbands name and was frustrated that she could not. This was a different Susie than I know. Her behavior was foreign to me.

We visited for a while and I could tell that the pain medication was causing her to get drowsy so I figured I better wrap things up. I pulled out my purse Bible that I had marked to Romans 8. I unsnapped the worn leather cover and flipped through the delicate pages.

I read to Susie, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose…” She nodded her head and closed her eyes.

I kept on reading to the rise and fall of her breathing. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us.” She gripped my hand rhythmically as I read. Her heart may be failing but her hand pumped mine in time, like a firmly beating heart.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons…” Her lips slowly moved, trying to follow along with me. “Neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us form the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

She opened her eyes, looked me squarely in the face, squeezed my hand and said, “Amen.”

In a place that seems so foreign, in situations that are uncomfortable and disquieting, in a locale that is filled with distractions the Word of God is familiar. Susie might not have ever recognized me but I know that she would have recognized the Word of God. When everything else was foreign around her, everything else was in shambles, when everything else was confusing, she knew, clearly, as plain as day that what I read to her was God’s Word. There is something comforting and comfortable about that. Right there in that hospital room, in our terrible facility, the Word of God was revealed as true. No pain medication, no circumstance, no illness could separate Susie from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, and she knew it.