Unremarkable.

The lopsided smile gave her away-she had had a stroke. It had affected her on the same side my grandmother's stroke had. She said her name was Jean. She was small and looked scared. Nothing special about her. She was unremarkable to the human eye.

"I don't know what time they will come to get me today." she said.

"Are you waiting for therapy?" I asked her, knowing the schedule was different today.

She nodded. "Well, since it's Saturday it might be different."

She nodded her head and told me she forgot what day it was. Easy to do in here. Every day was the same. Same food, same people. Florescent lights instead of the sun.

We talked about the horrible weather conditions 'up north'. She shook her head from side to side. Jean was nearly deaf and told me so as I watched her continually try to adjust her hearing aid. This always makes it more difficult. But nothing is impossible with God. One time I was talking to an old Irish man who was nearly deaf and even though I was sitting next to him, almost screaming in his ear, he could not make out what I was saying. Then the Lord showed me his calendar, which was hanging on his board. I took it down and rolled it up, making a sort of bullhorn. After that, he heard me just fine.

After a few minutes I got down to the business of eternity. Jean thought she was ok, as far as being a good person goes. She faced off with the 10 Commandments and found out that she had failed to be perfect. This caused her to politely justify herself. We went back over a couple of the Commandments and she stopped. I asked her where God would have to send her she hesitate and said, "Well, I think that God would have to...Hell." Her shoulders slumped when she admitted this.

I watched her a moment and then asked her if she knew what God had done for her so she would not have to spend eternity in Hell. She didn't understand what I said, so I began to write it out on paper. As I wrote the name Jesus my pen stopped-just stopped writing. For some reason I had another pen in my book so I just continued on. I saw behind her a picture of a dapper man in a WWII uniform. When I explained why Jesus came I told her that, just like someone who went to war, He did it for all of us. At this her eyes teared up and she nodded her head. When I was finished Jean told me she was tired.

"Hard to think." she muttered.

"I know I've given you some heavy things to think about. But I know you realize this is very important, too. The only one who can make this decision is you, Jean. You don't need me."

She nodded and told me thank you for coming in to talk with her. I left with a heavy heart. Allyson was waiting for me in the hallway and we stopped to pray for her and another lady that Allyson had just finished with. After speaking to another lady, we parted ways around 11am.

At around 4pm, my cell phone signaled to me that I had received a message. it came from Tucker, another friend who works at the nursing home. "I am just calling to let you know that the work of the Lord goes on! Jean ________ has just prayed to received the Lord Jesus Christ and I wanted to let you know!"

Unremarkable? Obviously not to God!


1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.