She comes in her night gown...

She has pitch black half dyed hair over her white tangled roots. Large owl framed glasses and a long mums nightgown decorated with cartoon characters. She always comes in her nightgown. I love this woman. She has suffered a lot in her life. Her mom died when she was 6 yrs old, she was sexually abused growing up, then married into another abusive relationship in which she was repeatedly raped and then knocked out so many times she had developed some cognitive deficits. When she talks, it takes twice as long for her to say what she is thinking. She has of course, fibromyalgia, PTSD and severe anxiety issues. However, she is making steps forward. We got her off her pain medications with gabapentin. I assure her each visit her kidneys are not failing. Then I pray with her and she always is thankful with tears in her eyes. She says that she believes in God but also in all religions.

When she found out I was getting married, she gave me an old silver bookmark with doves in it. She said, "This is my wedding gift to you. This might not seem very special, but this is very special to me.  My mother gave to me before she died and her mother gave it to her."  She explained, it is from some famous music school in Europe that her grandmother attended. I felt awkward receiving it, yet knew that she gave it out of love and would be hurt if I invited she keep it. It was the last time I would see her and I had wanted to share the gospel with her, but time got away form me and I was 1 hour behind with 3 other patients already roomed and waiting for me.  So I prayed to end our visit and she hugged me and said her goodbyes. I did regret not sharing with her.

About 10 days later, she came in to see me unexpectedly. She said, "I know I don't really have anything special to talk about, but I wanted to come talk to you one last time and maybe get a life health plan from you... you know, like, any last recommendations you have for me?"   We have a wonderful encounter talking about overall health issues and then I asked her is she had ever heard the story of why Jesus came to our world and died? It was a big part of my life and I was happy to share with her if she was interested.

"Oh Yes! I would like to hear about it" she had said. That day, my dear friend prayed and received the Lord. She basically clung to the little gospel booklet for dear life and said "This is such a special day for me. " She just kept shaking the gospel booklet, "this is amazing, this is so special".

Indeed it was a special day for both of us. 

My Favorite Holiday is Good Friday.

She came into clinic to talk about anxiety and her cough. Easter weekend was approaching and I asked her if she had any plans for the holiday and she said she didn't. She admitted she wasn't really religious and faith wasn't a big part of her life.  After sending in a few prescriptions for her, I told her that my favorite holiday was Good Friday and was glad it was coming up so soon. She then explained "Oh really? MY favorite holiday is Good Friday also!!!" I was surprised to hear this and asked her "Why?" since she told me faith was't a big part of her life. "Well," she said, "It's because I was born on Good Friday!" I thought that was cool and asked her if she knew the meaning of Good Friday. "Well, mmmm, errr.. I should know this," she said since she went to a Catholic school for short time when she was young, but she didn't. She was happy when I asked her if she wanted me to explain it to her. She thought the illustration of the bridge was cool and exclaimed, "Wow! This is amazing! I'm going to pin this up by my desk at work!" I thought that was a strange reply and explained to her the difference between knowing facts about God and receiving Jesus as her King and Savior, the one who would forgive her and lead her life. So, a few days before Good Friday, ... a few days before her earthly birthday, my dear patient received prayed to receive the Lord and had a spiritual birthday! When she looked up from praying, she said "Wow, I feel like for the first time in my life I can talk to God!"

Today in clinic I saw her for the first time since she was born again. She had found a church and was in a women's small group. She was reading a book from her small group called "The Best YES" and said her family had started coming with her, including her children who were loving the childrens' program. Life had been hard the last few months will illnesses and surgeries but God was doing a good thing in her life.

Praise God!!