Chaplain Jeanne

Seeking Direction from God “Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually.” (1 Chronicles 16:11) A young woman was in the hospital bed with her parents and small child visiting her. When I walked in, the father told me to sit down. He proceeded to tell me that they had a story to tell - even two stories. His daughter (who was the patient) was a rebellious teenager like her father. She left home and got pregnant. Upon returning home, her dog was killed outside her home. She was devastated. She went to adopt another dog. As she was driving to get one, she saw a buck in the road. She swerved and to miss hitting a tree letting go of the wheel and then taking it back again. She only swiped the side of her car on the tree avoiding a fatal accident. She had already decided to give her baby away for adoption and still held firm to those feelings. She did not want her child raised in a home (single mom) with her parents who fought all the time. He mother was a nurse at the hospital and her father had worked at General Motors and lost his job leaving him to take care of their own children. During all this time, the young girl was having counseling and had a couple ready who wanted to adopt her baby. They came to be with her during the labor and expressed that she was a strong young woman of which the father disagreed. (Actually, I was thinking the same as this couple did). The adoptive parents took the baby, but the young mother begins to have second thoughts. She went for further counseling to make sure she was not going to do something that was unwise, and decided to keep her baby. She took him back from the new adoptive parents after having held it for 4 days in their care. I thought how sad for them. I met this little boy a toddler, who was in the room at the same time of this story, and he was very cute little boy with large dark eyes. If we are open and seeking God’s will in our lives, he will open doors and lead us in life. He will walk with us in our journey and we need not fear and make bad decisions. If we make our choices based on His Word, we will be wiser. ©Rev. Jeanne McIntosh 2011

Chaplain Jeanne

Salvation is by Faith in Jesus Christ There is none righteous, no not one. (Rom.3:10) For by grace are ye saved through faith, not of yourselves...not of works. (Eph.2:8,9) Not by works of righteousness which we have done. (Tit.3:5) Met an elderly women who was probably closer to death than not. He son was present and we had prayer. He told her to remember what he has said the other day that it was not going to get better and then she needed to make a decision if she wanted to continue treatment and live in pain, or go on to heaven. He seemed to be less than gentle with her, and I interrupted to tell her again who I was and asked her if I could pray with her. I asked her if she loved Jesus and wanted to go to heaven. She said that she did. The son followed me out in the hallway and asked me if she seemed to be ready to go to heaven. Really, I cannot answer that question, as I did not feel knowledgeable enough to answer his question. I did say that she wanted to go to heaven and someone that was not ready may say something. I did not feel I gave him a good answer. I did ask him if he wanted me to go in again and talk with her. He did not. He wanted a chaplain to come again and talk with other family members who were not present at that time. One family member was saying that the patient would get right up and walk out of that bed, which did not seem very likely to me. He said they were unrealistic. If someone is ready to die, it is not always easy to know. At times, family interferes with these kinds of matters. Family members want to think the best of someone they love who is dying without realizing the seriousness of the soul and eternity. They would put them in heaven if they could. If a loved one attended church, worked for the church, was a pastor, sang, or whatever, that seems to make them think they are ready to go to heaven. Without repentance of sins, there is no remission for the soul. © Rev. Jeanne McIntosh 2011

Marriage

Met a man and his wife who had been married for 55 years. They had stuck it out through all the ups and downs. He said that she was his nurse. How lovely to see a marriage that has stood through the rough places and trials in a marriage.