“You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:2 (NIV)

You never know what your day will bring when you work in healthcare.

When I take care of patients, I don’t really expect to see anything extraordinary from God. I’m a nursing assistant, and my job is to aid the nurse in caring for patients recovering from joint surgery. After all, it’s healthcare.

One night, the evening shift is going as usual, and patients are all doing well, but the workload stacks up in the surgery center across the hall. It’s unusual for them to call me for help this late in the evening, but that’s exactly where my night takes a turn.

Feeling a bit put-out about having to leave my comfort zone, I roll up my sleeves, take a deep breath and begin. My first task is to bring a patient down in a wheelchair to surgery pick-up at the back of the building.

We make it down to the vehicle, and I wish them well. Turning to push the wheelchair back to the door, I notice a man walking toward me from his station wagon piled with linen.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he says, “I need to find out where to deliver these blankets.”

As I explain where to deliver the load, I consider how strange this situation is. It just so happens I’m the only person in the building who knows what linen we ordered and where to bring it.

In a thankful spirit, he tells me, “I whispered a prayer that God would send someone to help me because I didn’t know where to go.”

Well, guess what? God sent me at this exact moment in this exact place where he needed the help.

Friend, God sees us and knows our situations — just like He knows the predicament the linen delivery man faced. Not only does He see it, but God cares about it. As He reminds us in Psalm 139:2, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

God cares enough about the delivery man’s prayer to pull me out of my normal duties and bring me to surgery pick-up in the back of the building. Just so I can help him find his way. Do you think God cares just as much about you and me?

God is not distant, but close. He reaches down as we lift our eyes up to Him. He is our help and our deliverer who moves mountains (or people) as we whisper a prayer.

The way God moves is mysterious and is certainly not at our every whim. But earnest prayers are dear to God’s heart, just like the whisper of a daughter to her loving dad.

That night I found wonder in the fact that God moves in our lives when we least expect it and that we get to be a part of His plan! I wonder what He will do next!

Heavenly Father, as I whisper to You now, I know You are here with me. Please use me for Your purpose. Help me remember that You always hear me when I pray. In Your mysterious, wonderful way, let me be moved by You today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:

Psalm 116:1-2, “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” (NIV)

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REFLECT AND RESPOND:

Whisper the need you have today into the ear of the God who cares for you. Ask God to use you for His wonderful purpose.

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