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The ER Encounter

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Photo courtesy of pixabay.Fear lurked around the edges of the bed I lay on, ready to pounce. Did I have a brain injury? Would it require surgery?

I had fallen and hit my head on a concrete curb and was now in the emergency room. A nurse had left me in the corridor while she went to check for an empty CAT scan room.

I scanned the area around me. Empty. Cold. I felt alone. Why was the nurse gone so long? The fear edged closer. Then I heard a sound behind me . . . someone approaching. Another patient passed beside me on a stretcher. Wait. She looked familiar.

“Bobbie,” I cried.

Bobbie—a fellow worshiper at the church my husband pastors—turned toward me, and her face expressed the same surprise I felt.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, shocked that we should meet in such a strange place.

She smiled and responded, “Might be a little problem with my heart.”

We extended our hands to each other. “I pray you’re okay,” I said.

“You too.” She squeezed my hand.

The corridor filled with warmth, and the cold drained out. Moments earlier, I felt I had no comfort to give anyone, but when Bobbie appeared, God made His presence known. I found it amazing that even in my fearfulness, God came and showed His strength. God brought us together in that moment to offer His comfort to each other.

Among Paul’s many troubles, he was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, deprived of food, and stoned. Yet he wrote, “We can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Later, he mentions how much Titus had comforted him when he visited. Even the great apostle needed the consolation of God through His people.

Bobbie and I both received good news that day. I had no brain injury. Only a broken arm. Bobbie was also later released with a good report. We both left with a renewed sense of God’s presence.

In any time of trouble, count on God to provide comfort for you and to comfort others through you.

(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)

(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.) 


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Beverly Varnado

Beverly Varnado is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and blogger. Her screenplay, “Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees,” has been a finalist for the Kairos Prize and is now under option with Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures. She has written Home to Currahee as well as Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees, which placed in the top ten for Christian Writer's Guild Operation First Novel. Her blog, One Ringing Bell, is now in its seventh year with almost seven hundred posts. Her credits include being featured on World Magazine Radio, appearing in The Upper Room Magazine, and being profiled in Southern Distinctions Magazine as one of seventeen authors writing about Georgia. You can also find her on the web at www.BeverlyVarnado.com, or on her blog at oneringingbell.blogspot.com


Comments

  1. This is precious! God is good!

  2. Thanks so much for sharing, we know God is with us even when we think we are alone. I read to friends on front porch in mountains. Everyone enjoyed and shared tears of thanksgiving.