Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER (don’t write about the song) (04/30/15)
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TITLE: Encounter | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gary Ritter
05/04/15 -
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We had taken my car and planned to head to our favorite restaurant for Sunday brunch. I pulled out of the parking lot with thoughts of the rest of the day uppermost in my mind. Nick asked me a question while I was still preoccupied. I turned toward him to repeat it.
From the corner of my eye I saw the light changing from green to yellow. Having lived in Chicago all my life I did what most local drivers did: I involuntarily sped up to beat the red.
The next thing I knew was the screech of metal on metal. The world turned upside down as the other car rammed the passenger side. I heard a sickening crunch and caught a glimpse of Nick hitting his head against glass and bouncing back toward me as the front of the SUV loomed over him.
I came to in the ambulance and groped wildly for Nick. The paramedic calmed my panicked cries, assuring me Nick was also on his way to the hospital. Hours later after a battery of tests the doctor said I was unharmed. He told me Nick was in surgery.
My shoulder and neck hurt where I’d whiplashed from the crash but my concern lay with Nick. I paced the floor waiting in the recovery area and for hopeful good news from the doctor. She finally came and said, “You are Krystiana, Nick’s wife?”
“Yes, yes,” I said, “How is he?”
“Please sit down.”
I knew then there was trouble.
Nick would live but had sustained a severe injury on the right side of his brain. The effect would be severe impairment to the functioning on the left side of his body. He would talk and walk, but only with great difficulty. My singular thought was how hard it would be for him considering he was left-handed.
The days after his release were long and hard. We wouldn’t see the doctor’s best-case scenario for months. Initially confined to a wheelchair, Nick progressed through much physical therapy and hard-won battles to a slow walk with a cane. His reflexes were slow and he fought adjusting to a right-handed orientation, wanting to eat and pursue other activities with his left. It resulted in my cleaning up a lot of spilled food from his clothes and the floor. But how could I begrudge him his dream of functioning normally again?
I’ve been told I’m an attractive woman. More than once some man would see me with Nick, helping him walk or do some other activity. He would remark on what a waste it was for me to be with such a loser. I burned with resentment and always ignored him.
To facilitate Nick’s recovery and my sanity we often went to the health club where I could both assist Nick with exercises and get in a workout for myself. I noticed a man on the machines who seemed to be circling nearer us as he worked out. I thought, “Here it comes again.”
To my surprise he approached Nick and gently asked if he’d had a stroke. With effort Nick told him about the accident. The man said, “Do you have a religious background?”
Nick hesitated, and said, “Yes.”
I’m not sure which of us the man astonished more when he said, “I believe the Lord directed me here. Can I pray for you?”
He laid his hands on Nick. I closed my eyes. As he prayed I felt a sweet sensation I’d never before known. He asked Jesus to heal Nick, saying, “We don’t know if You will, Lord, but we know that You can.”
The man finished by thanking me for my faithfulness to Nick. Through tears I saw him smile and go back to his routine. We left the club shortly after that for home. The Lord chose not to heal Nick that day, but the aftermath of the prayer lingered for hours after the actual words.
The man’s faithful response to God changed our relationship with Him that day. If a stranger out of the blue would pray for us, weren’t all things possible? We knew God would heal Nick. Someday, all would be well.
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Nicely done.
God Bless~