"Jesus said yes"

Today I went to a nursing home with some ladies from my Bible study group. Two of us took our children with us. We took doughnuts and business cards from church. I didn't really want to go, as I feel a little emotionally fragile sometimes after the loss of my Dad and my Grandma last year. I've never had any emotional baggage about visiting nursing homes, but suddenly this year it seemed difficult. However, the lady who arranged our little field trip lost her dad (who had been living in this nursing home) last week. So...I couldn't really wimp out when she was being so strong.

We learned from the nurses which patients were allowed to eat doughnuts, and we went room to room, just saying hello. In one of the last rooms we met a blind man. He didn't seem to be familiar with the word "doughnut" but he told us he had been praying for a "man of God" to visit him. He felt that we, five ladies with six children, were an answer to his prayer. He told us that he prayed for each staff member of the nursing home ("from the general manager to the housekeepers") and then he said "last week they put my wife in a grave." One lady stayed and prayed with him while the rest of us moved on.

On the way home, I talked with my kids about this man, because I didn't know if they had realized that he was blind, and I knew that my 7 year old had been a little worried about "the sad man". My 4 year old said, "That man prayed and Jesus said "yes!" to his prayer and He sent us! He was so sad and now he is happy." Of course at 4 she doesn't understand the sorrow of losing a spouse, but she does understand that Jesus answers prayer, and she felt that she was part of that answer. She felt that Jesus used her today.

The kids knew that they were going to "give gifts" (doughnuts) to the residents today. We didn't know that we would receive the gift of being used by Jesus.