Straight Paths - God Speaks to You Like That

God Speaks to You Like That

Loren Hardin

The Ashland Beacon

             This is part three of a series about Kate who was ninety-one years old when she enrolled in outpatient hospice services with end-stage congestive heart failure. Kate lives with her daughter, Rose, and son-in-law, Bub. You don’t want to let Kate’s silver-grey hair and softspoken demeanor deceive you. If you read part one of this series, you know that Kate is independent; some may describe her as "stubborn", but I prefer to describe her as strong-willed and feisty. But Kate comes by it honestly. Kate is an Appalachian farm girl; she grew up on a farm in West Virginia and was a crack shot with a 22 riffle when she was only ten years old. 

             Kate was true to form while in our inpatient suite at Southern Ohio Medical Center during a five-day respite stay. One morning I stopped by to visit Kate to see how it was going. I pulled a chair up to the side of Kate’s bed and as soon as I sat down Kate recounted: "The nurse that was all dressed up in white scolded me last night. She told me, ‘If you get up by yourself one more time, I’m going to spank you.’ She was just joking. I think. I reached up and patted her face and asked her, ‘Who are you going to bring with you?’ They put the bedside commode away from the bed, against the wall, so I couldn’t get up to it on my own. But when she left, I just grabbed it with my cane and pulled it over next to the bed." 

            Then Kate proceeded to share three separate but related stories: “A few years ago, my brother-in-law was sick, his wife had left him, and he came to my mind all day. I couldn’t go check on him because I had two kids. So, when my husband got home, I sent him to check on him. He went to ask him if he had something to eat. He only had a half-cup of flour; enough for one pancake, but he didn’t have any milk or money to buy any. He said, ‘I just prayed that something would turn up.’

             "And one day my friend, Dorothy, kept coming to mind. I had a strong urge to check on her. When I did, she told me she’d been sick in bed for two days. She hugged me and told me, ‘I was just praying for someone.’ I stayed with her a day or two and then brought her home with me until she got better.

             “My son who was a helicopter gunner in Vietnam. I had a nightmare that he was captured. They had him tied down and his body was over water, and they were pushing his head up and down. When I woke up, I was so worried about him. I started praying for him and a voice told me, ‘There is One who is able to keep him safe.’ A peace came over me. I can’t describe it. The peace and calm came over me and I knew that was the answer to my prayers. You know, the Lord is a pushover for tears." Kate concluded, "You know, God speaks to you like that."

             Has God ever spoken to you like that? Has anyone ever come to your mind? Have you ever had a strong urge to check on someone? Have you ever had an unexplainable burden to pray for someone? For the love of God, let’s not reason it away, for our response may be God’s answer to someone’s prayer. 

             “Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? "(Isaiah 50:2)

             Loren Hardin was a social worker with SOMC-Hospice for twenty-nine years. He can be reached at 740.357.6091 or at lorenhardin53@gmail.com. You can order Loren's book, Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course”, from Amazon.