Elaine

This morning I had an appointment with my midwife, just an annual checkup.  The kids were at preschool, and I had dropped Hayden off with Pa-Pa who is still home recovering from his knee replacement.  As I was leaving the parking lot of the office building, I had to slow down for a woman crossing the street near the hospital entrance.

Nothing about her caught my attention until she gave me a little wave as she passed in front of my car.  I could see her lip quivering and tears falling down her cheeks.  I was immediately struck by her emotion, and I suddenly realized I was supposed to talk to her.  It's interesting how the Holy Spirit works, isn't it? 

I did a U-turn and pulled up beside her.  Not knowing how she was going to react, I hesitantly asked if she was okay.  She told me her name was Elaine and that her husband had died a month ago and that she was at the hospital picking up his records.  Oh wow, did the waterworks start for me.  I grabbed her hand and asked if I could pray for her. 

When I finished, she thanked me and told me that she and her husband had accepted Christ just a few weeks before he passed away.  She said she was just still so sad and missed him so much.  They had been married for twelve years, and her teenage daughter had started her senior year late because she was still grieving. 

As she and I talked, we held hands, and can I just say that her tight grip said more to me than her words.  All she needed right then was someone to listen, to feel her pain, to grieve with her.  And grieve I did.  For the rest of the day, I thought about her and I thought about what it would be like to lose my precious husband after only 12 short years of marriage.  I'm still thinking about her.   

I guess I'm blogging about this encounter today because of what it taught me.  I'm not telling the story to boast or somehow build myself up.  I'm telling the story because I think we can all be reminded to stop and listen and let God work through us.  Had I had all of my kids in the car, I probably wouldn't have stopped.  I would've come up with all kinds of excuses to ignore the voice telling me to talk to her.  I'm thankful I was alone in the car and that God put her in my path.  Literally. 

So today I had a very real reminder that life is fragile, that at any moment my world could be turned upside down and I could be the one walking into the hospital to pick up records.  More than ever, I want to treasure my husband and fully live in the moment when we're together.  Because going through this journey without him is incomprehensible.  He's the glue that makes us work.