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A Nurse Meets God

A nurse came to my home recently for an annual wellness visit.

Grandsons enjoying time in Grandma Julia’s living room

During the part of the visit that dealt with mental health she commented she liked the way the living room was set up, and I said it was all because of Julia. That led us to talk about my marriage to Julia and how much I loved her and missed her – a missing that was more than good memories. I said my missing her was a deep longing of my very being, my soul, and that occasionally it would become a deep groaning in my spirit.

Julia marveling at God’s abundant grace

At one point, the visiting nurse asked me, “would it than have been better to have not loved your wife so passionately and not have been married so long? Wouldn’t the pain be less?”

My answer was, “absolutely not! I can’t imagine how much would have been lost without her in my life.”

She then asked, “but don’t you have a desire to hurt yourself and be done with this life now?”

I had to answer her that yes, I had experienced moments of deep depression and a pervading sense of lostness that bordered on dangerous at times. “But for God,” I said, “I would have been lost without hope and without a power not in myself to find a meaningful life now without her.”

“So,” she continued, “Do you have people in your life that you can count on and build your life around now?”

I answered, “Yes! God has blessed me with so many I can count on, work with, and love…”

In the momentary quiet that followed this mental health conversation, in the background a saxophone player was playing the song, How Great Thou Art. I asked if the music was too loud. She said softly, “No, I like it.”

Now that’s a great wellness checkup!

Now that’s a great wellness checkup when it’s more than your body that’s OK, but also when you can testify to God’s overcoming grace for your soul!

“You’re golden,” she said as she waved goodbye and headed to her car.

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