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God works through us to
love others
by Tamara Witte
She was thirty eight. I was twenty four. I was serving in the Air Force, working on the oncology floor of the base hospital. She was a regular patient who was suffering with leukemia. Though she rarely spoke, her large dark brown eyes communicated deep sorrow. She trusted me because I chose to look the other way when she needed to hide in the ladies room and smoke. Her name was Loretta.
I had joined the military with two goals in mind; to grow up and to “win the Air Force for the Lord.” I had sensed a call to ministry as a young girl, graduated college with a ministry degree, and very much needed to mature in more ways than one. It wasn’t long before I found myself in the unexpected position of needing to be ministered to. In short, I was an emotional and spiritual mess. My thriving relationship with God had been reduced to a belief that He existed, and nothing more. I would have been voted by my peers as least likely to be in ministry, if there had been such a thing. It was at this point that Loretta and I became acquainted.
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She was brought into the hospital one day by ambulance, and was in such terrific pain that she could barely lay still on the gurney. Her room was immediately packed with medical personnel. I was standing outside her room when I heard a very distinct (not audible) directive to minister to her. My response was, “No way. I am in no position to help anyone.” The directive was repeated, yet this time much stronger. I argued with God, telling Him that I would cooperate if she was alone. Immediately the room cleared. Unwillingly and with great fear I entered her room. And in that room I was given a large measure of grace that formed the healing words of the gospel on my tongue. Minutes later, she responded in faith, and her suffering ended forever. |
My thriving relationship
with God had been reduced
to a belief that He existed,
and nothing more. |
Ministry is …
about the power
of God working through us to
love each other. |
Twenty years have passed, and I am still moved by her death, or rather by her life. Not just because she died minutes after our conversation, but because the miracle God performed in her dying moments had absolutely nothing to do with me. He used me in spite of my deplorable spiritual condition to help someone come to know Him in their last minutes of life.
Ministry is not about how gifted we are or are not, or how spiritual we may or may not be. It is about the power of God working through us to love each other. That supernatural power will enable us to be obedient to whatever task we are called.
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