Grace in Time of Need

By A. B. Barber

 It was kind of like hearing a small voice inside that said, “You can do that…you have the perfect place for her…”

 We were at house church one night back in early December sharing prayer requests.  One young lady, a college student named Grace, shared about an upcoming surgery she was going to have.  It was going to be a massive surgery to insert 3 metal rods across her sternum and under her rib cage.  I remember just cringing as she was telling us all they were going to do to correct her collapsing sternum.  She told us how long she’d be at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and how she would go to her sister’s house to recover.  She talked about how crowded her sister’s place was with people and pets, and how she was going to have to try and recover.  She wasn’t even going to be able to lift her arms at all for a while.

 I remember listening as she told us, with nervous laughter of all she was going to go through.  Her parents live in Florida and weren’t going to be able to help.  I felt like God whispered to me, “You could help her…”. I thought, “Yes, I could, but I’m not family, I’m not a nurse, I don’t know her very well, and what if she didn’t feel comfortable enough with me to have me do that…?”

  Grace continued to share and said she hoped she would be able to have somewhere quiet with not a lot of commotion to recover… “You have the perfect place for that”, He nudged.   I didn’t say anything, but He planted the seed in my mind. 

 One of the gifts God gave me is simply the deep love of offering people a place of respite. It just gives me sheer delight.  Providing a space of peace, quiet, refuge, safety…a place to heal, rest, or just escape for a while, I love to give that to people.  So, it made sense listening to her that I should offer to care for her… but I wasn’t sure.  I ruled myself out because I wasn’t her actual family, and frankly, her surgery scared me and I felt unqualified.  So, I just let it go knowing her sister would care for her. 

 So, when it came time for her surgery, everything went well.  I went to the hospital to see her, and she said she would get released the next day.  Well, the next day I received a text from her boyfriend, Jackson, and he said there was a problem.  Grace’s sister had just tested positive for Covid.  She would not be able to take care of Grace.  Jackson, asked me in the text, “Is this something the house church can help with??” 

 A huge smile crossed my lips as I quietly repeated, “Is this something the house church can help with!”  Yes! And it’s actually something I’m supposed to help with!   I called my husband, Brian, told him what happened and said, “I think we need to have Grace stay with us.”  He, of course, agreed. 

 When Grace arrived at our home from the hospital Jackson helped her walk inside.  She sat down ever so slowly on the couch, clearly in immense pain.  In fact, they arrived much later than planned due to the numerous stops on the way because every bump on the highway had Grace in tears.  As I now looked at her, sitting on our couch in unfathomable pain, I looked back at Brian.  My wide eyes said to him, “What in the world are we doing???  We are totally unqualified for this!!”  His wide eyes said the same. 

 “Oh, Lord,” I prayed, “I can’t do this!  I’m not a nurse!  What if I mess her up??  What if I don’t administer her medicines right?  I’m hard of hearing- what if I don’t hear her in the night!  I think you have the wrong person for this job! Help!!”

 And help He did!  You see, in the seven days that followed, I saw God working in ways that astounded me.  He helped me understand the spreadsheet her boyfriend made of all her medicines and the times they were to be administered.  He helped me remember to get things at the store before she even came that she truly needed:  a lap tray, straws, a shower wand, and a shower chair.  The things I just “happened to have on hand” were the exact things that helped her:  a giant recliner couch with tons of pillows, a mini-fridge that I could plug in and fill with all her favorite drinks to keep her hydrated.  Even little things, like half and half to put in her hot cocoa, or the apple I had on a day when the only thing that sounded good to her was an apple and peanut butter - I had both! 

God brought other people alongside us to help her, too.  And when I had to sleep on a couch next to her through the night and administer medicine every two hours - God helped me hear her when she needed me!  That was a miracle!  He was there the whole time.  He helped her recover and get stronger day by day, and he helped us help her. 

 Through it all, he kept reminding me of the verse in Ephesians 2:10:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

 This was clearly a work he had prepared in advance for us to do.  He knew all along that He was going to bring Grace to our house church, and he prepared all of us to receive her.  Then he prepared my heart to help her after her surgery by planting the idea while she shared that night back in December, and even by planting the joy of caring for people in my heart.  As Brian and I cared for her those days, I couldn’t help but find delight in knowing we were walking in those good works prepared beforehand.  And, on all the counts I had of how unqualified we were, He proved faithful to give us everything we needed to do the work He prepared for us to do. 

 It was truly an honor to take care of Grace.  She trusted us to do the job, and God truly gave us everything we needed to do it.  And best of all, we got to know Grace better and just love her.  Sometimes the works God calls us to seem scary, but we need to remember that if He prepared them for us to do, He will always equip us to do them.  That’s just who He is!

And on a special note, Grace was baptized on Easter this year!  Some of our house church was present to rejoice with her!