Chaplain Jeanne

I walked into the room of a blind man who was stretched out lying flat on his back who had been discouraged. He told me the nurse walked into his room and asked him to shower. He asked did he smell, She said no, but you will later. He had been doubting God and shared how God had told him it was for those who persevere to the end who will go to heaven. He said it was not by works that we will get to heaven and that God sent Jesus to earth without any assurance that anyone would accept him. The blind man share much more about the bible, and how he was trying to memorize Psalm 91. He asked me if I had a bible and I told him I could quote some scripture from memory. I quoted some for him. He seemed to be encouraged in the Lord before I came, but did say in the conversation and that God used people to help at times. It was a good visit of encouragement to probably both of us.

One Patient I visited in a Behavior hospital; was sharing with me about some kind of financial issues (not sure the whole story) and little difficult to understand the story. It seemed very difficult for him to tell me and I was worried and did not want him to overdo it emotionally. He was a few years older than me. I shared how God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He said he would do some soul searching during his time there. I handed him a scripture care which he tool eagerly and begin reading immediately while I waited. I had prayer with him which he expressed appreciation. I felt very humbled and concerned for him.

I met one lady who asked if God could forgive every sin. I told her he would. She voluntarily told me her sins that troubled her. She prayed weeping and confessing out loud her sins more than once. After praying, she mentioned some as if she had forgotten from a child. I told her we are not responsible for those. All she had to talk about was sexual sins and I assumed it was child abuse (an assumption on my part - mistake). She wanted to know if God forgave her. I told she was forgiven according the Word. She must have faith and thank God. She had so little faith and needed encouragement to trust.

I visited a blind lady (appeared she was). I did not want to ask her if she was blind. She did not understand about how Satan worked it seemed. I shared the story of how he was put out of heaven and how he works on our minds now. Staff had told me she was lonely and frightened before I went. She did not seem frightened to me - maybe in need of some spiritual encouragement and comfort.

Paged for family and patient - talked to a husband, patient and the patient’s sister. The patient was not doing well and neither were the other two. When I went into the patient's room, I spoke to her and she opened her eyes several times. I spoke to her about her spiritual matters and prayed. I went out to speak with the husband and he sister-in-law. They both had tears in their eyes and the husband was very upset. He had served in the air force many years and his wife had raised their two daughters. He was home maybe 2 days out of each month. I did not sense any guilt here. He did not want to make a decision to withhold from her as he had seen what this was in the hospital many times. I had prayer with them. I was so thankful to be able to pray and talk with the patient before she was more comfortable and less responsive. This husband shared how wonderful the unit was toward him and the care they gave bringing him coffee. He was very impressed. He thought it was a good unit. We talked about airplanes and his flying as a pilot.