aha moments

Friday at mass the seminarians homily was about

the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

How once his three followers saw that he truly

was the Son of God that they wanted to pitch tent

on the mountain and never leave.

However Jesus reminded them that the job

was not yet done, they had to go into the village and

try to get as many followers as they could.

He reminded us that as believers, that is what

we are asked to do.

We do not see the transfiguration as these three followers do.

We see Jesus in the little things in the world

sometimes it's hard to tell whether it is a small miracle

or just a coincidence.

Yet every once in a while we have those "AHA moments!"

Ones that can only be miracles to a true believer.

I have been blessed to have quite a few of these AHA moments.

I am not special, it happens to all of us, just some of us

choose to either not follow through to do our part in the

miracle or we believe more in coincidences than God.

I will this week share some of these AHA moments.

A friend of mines comes into the doctors office

with her mother.

This was not a friend who I hung out with, more

friends because our boys played biddy together.

When your children play biddy, you spend weekends in gyms.

Her mother was like mine, never missed a grandchild's game.

So I knew them quite well.

On this day it was not basketball season so I had not seen them

in a while. She was accompanying her mother to the doctor

because her mother had been suffering for some time with back pain.

I was on phone lines that day but for God's reason,

I was checking them in.

I took one look at her mother who was gray in color and

emaciated and became filled with the feeling that this

woman was dying of bone cancer.

It bothered me, I kept making eye contact with my friend

and saying to both her and her mother,

this looks really serious...

I was hoping that through my eyes she would know her mother

was dying. I could not say this, I am a nurse,

there was no proof of this.

I left the room and told my doctor/friend

I would bet money that this woman has terminal cancer.

He went in to do his exam and came out having us

order many tests for the very next day.

He prescribed pain medications, strong ones

because her pain was tremendous and she had not

had relief in weeks.

In privacy, he agreed with my diagnosis.

My friend and her mother leave but I am not sitting well

with the fact that I didn't speak to my friend privately.

Like bothering me in a way that I could not sit still.

A nurse is not supposed to share these types of thoughts

but she is my friend.

I go into the front office, something I never did

and I walk to the glass partition, slide it back and

standing there is my friend. Right there and we are

making eye contact. Her mother is in the car and she has

a question about the tests of tomorrow.

So when God uses you as an instrument, what are you to do?

I call her into an exam room.

I look at her I take her hand and I say,

"I could loose my job for this but I want you to know

that I think you Mom is dying, I think she has cancer

and I don't think she is going to make it"

She looks into my eyes and begins to cry.

I explain that I don't know why I feel the urge to share

this but I couldn't let her leave without telling her.

She is crying lots now, she has no reason to believe me

but she does, because I tell her I feel called to tell her this.

She gets herself together hugs me, thanks me and leaves.

I finally feel the calm that I always feel after being part of God's work.

I go on with my day.

The next morning as soon as the phone lines are turned on

there is a call from my friend's sister-in-law

she was asked to call and let me know that my

friend's mother had passed away in her sleep that very night.

I am in shock, but knowing that I had did what my God had

called me to do. The story would be perfect right here right?

Well there is more.

Later in the day I get a call from my friend.

She calls crying to thank me for opening her eyes to the

fact that her mom was dying.

Before our confrontation her plans were to bring her

mom to her own home, give her medication and pick her up

the next day for her tests.

However, because of our meeting that upset her so much,

she took her mother to her home for the night.

She medicated her mom with the new pain medications

and for the first time in weeks her mother had pain relief.

During the night she heard her mother sigh

and she went in to check on her.

She called her mothers name and her mother shared

with her that for the first time in months she was resting and

felt so much better. She and my friend shared

how much they loved each other and how everything would

be okay. My friend went back to bed to sleep well

knowing her mom was finally feeling better.

She awakened to find that her mother had died peacefully

in her sleep during the night.

My friend was full of thanksgiving to me and said

forever she would think of my as an angel sent to

give this to her mom and her.

I just believe that God used me as an instrument.

Would you agree? An AHA moment.

Happy Monday