emery@fluke.UUCP (John Emery) (11/25/86)
I am happy to see "mod.religion.christian" up and runnging. Although the
volume is kind of low, I really enjoy reading it. My thanks to Charles
Hedrick for the good job he's doing. I've been wanting to contribute
something, so I found a nice story in November's issue of Guideposts.
I hope you enjoy it!
[Printed without permission]:
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His Mysterious Ways
I work for a large community hospital, placing patients in nursing
homes. Of all my patients, the most difficult to place was Irene Manion
(Name has been changed).
No one from any social welfare agency knew her. No one from a church
claimed her. She had no relatives, no visitors and apparently no friends.
And she required a great deal of medical care.
For months I made hundreds of phone calls to nursing homes, trying to
get her admitted. No one would accept her. I became obsessed with finding
Irene a home. As I prayed to God each morning before work, I mentioned Irene
Manion's name.
One day after an arrangement that had looked hopeful fell through, I
just sat at my desk and cried. Staring at Irene's fat, worn, faded paperwork,
I said, "God, I give you Irene. Please place her where she'll get the best
of care." I was really giving up.
But a few minutes later I was back, dialing a nursing home I had called
many, many times before. The admissions person wasn't there, and then,
before I knew it, the operator connected me to a hallway wall phone. An
evening nurse answered. In my frustration, I told her about my problem.
"What's the patient's name?" the nurse asked. "Irene Manion," I told
her, and to my amazement the nurse said, "Send her to us in the morning.
I'll arrange everything. She'll get the best of care."
Then the nurse told me how, when her mother had died, she'd been raised
by a neighbor, a woman she called "Mom." Now, after 12 years of looking
desparately for that woman, her search was over. Irene Manion was her beloved
"Mom."
by Mary Anne Hulford, Stratford, Connecticut
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A touching story to say the least,
John Emery
fluke!emery