Entertaining Angels2

My husband and I were visiting a third world country when he fell ill. I never felt so alone in all my life. I didn't know anyone in this country and didn't t speak the language. I kept hoping he would start to feel better. I called out over and over again Jesus, help me, Jesus help me but he just got worse. Finally I took the decision to call Reception to ask for an ambulance to take us to hospital.

I packed a few overnight things and our Bible before some of the staff came for us. The first shock was that there was no means of getting my husband down from our first floor room except by putting him in a typist s chair on wheels and wheeling him along to the top of the stairs where he was lifted precariously down the marble staircase by 4 young waiters. Once outside the hotel they had to lift him up 2 sets of stone steps to get him up to the main road. Rather than my expected ambulance I found a battered taxi. Our guide book had warned us not to use these local taxis but once again I had to put my trust in God to take us safely to the hospital. I then understood why taxi transport was discouraged; nevertheless it got us safely to the hospital.

The next shock was that even the hospital had no access ramp for the battered wheelchair with one footplate missing that had been found after some delay, so my husband had to be lifted in from the roadside to the reception area. No one seemed to wear a uniform or speak English so I didn't have a clue what was happening. Eventually he was wheeled to another part of the hospital, past someone on a stretcher in a corridor, to have a CT scan. While this was taking place I became aware of a young man sitting opposite me in the waiting room. I didn't t know who he was and wasn't aware that he was from the hotel. He was just there, with me.

After the scan it was decided to transfer my husband to a private clinic. Another trip in another battered taxi brought us there. As a room was being prepared for my husband and myself I noticed that the same young man was sitting in the waiting room. He said nothing. He was just a presence with me.

Later, when my husband was safely settled in bed and had been put on a drip and given medication I brought out my Bible and asked God to show me a scripture to help me. I opened the book to Habakkuk, not a book I am familiar with and started to read about all sorts of terrible things happening and wondered what sort of a message God was giving me. When I got to the end of the chapter these words jumped off the page at me: Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls- yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength

Then I understood that I was not dependent on my own strength but could trust in God for all the strength I needed. What a blessing that scripture was to me during that time, and since. My husband made a good recovery and we were able to continue with our holiday. Just before we left the clinic the young man suddenly appeared at our door and smiled at us. He never uttered a word but we said thank you in the language of the country. We still didn't t know who he was, and it was only when we returned home that I realized God had sent an angel to sit with me in a strange land. I thought I was all alone, but I wasn't!

~ Anonymous ~

[ Author: Anonymous (by request) -- March 2010 -- submitted by: Anonymous ]