The Lord finds many ways of blessing us. Sometimes they’re what we’d expect; often times they’re not. But He always knows how to tailor them for us personally. And I think He really likes to surprise us. 

I was surprised today when I found out I’d missed seeing the all-important reminder that I was assigned to write the Friday email this week, but with about seven hours to spare before I had to send it in, the Lord made sure I bumped into the right person at the right time who said something to the effect of “Great to see you, David! You working on that Friday email?” 

I hesitated slightly and automatically replied, “Yes!” with a nervous laugh. Was that dishonest? I thought. Well, I’m certainly working on it now! But the timing was perfect, because it’s been a week of blessings for me. So on that note, I want to share a quick story from this past week that God definitely had His hand in.

I was on duty with the local ambulance in a small town near Keene, NH. A call came in over the radio for an elderly woman who had been on the phone with her daughter and had suddenly stopped responding. The address was nearby, so we were able to arrive on scene with the ambulance in about two minutes, but to our dismay, we found that the door of the apartment was locked. After hearing no response from inside the apartment, we had a moment of deliberation before deciding to kick the door down, and it wasn’t a moment too soon. The woman was sitting just inside the door displaying classic stroke symptoms.

Even though my partner is a paramedic, there’s generally very little that EMTs and even paramedics can do for a patient in that state. The best course of action was what we like to call ‘diesel therapy’: driving to the hospital really, really fast. After what must have been the quickest drive I’ve ever taken to the hospital, the patient was still alive and with us. She was immediately rushed in for a CT scan, which revealed a massive blood clot in her brain, after which she was airlifted to a larger facility where she received life-saving treatment and (to the best of my knowledge) was well on her way to recovery.

We pride ourselves on giving the best patient care possible, but like so many things in life, we’re limited by our own humanity. Sometimes we lose patients, which can be saddening. But the days like the one this past week are not only encouraging, they are humbling. We played a small part in God’s plan for that woman. 

He knew far in advance what would happen, and looking back, I can see all the things that fell into place. At least a year earlier, God put it on our captain’s heart to work towards staffing our ambulance during the day, and just this past November our town board finally approved it. This meant that instead of volunteers having to drive from their homes, the crew was already at the station when the emergency occurred, which saved precious time. Only twenty-five minutes passed from the time 911 was called to the time the patient arrived in the emergency department at the hospital. If it hadn’t been for that saved time, the patient very well could have died on the way to the hospital. 

When the stroke occurred, the patient was on the phone with her daughter. If it hadn’t been for that, she very likely would have died and no one would have known until the next day.

That was all God’s timing. It wasn’t that woman’s time to go and God made sure everything aligned to save her life. It’s exciting to be a part of that, humbling to realize how little we as humans can do, and comforting to see how God is utterly in control. 

I often find it hard to trust God, and I’m sure you’ve all struggled with trust at some point. But be assured, nothing will stand in the way of God’s plan for you, or for your loved ones. God’s plan is in motion today. Yesterday He was already aligning events such that when our next crisis arrives, it will go exactly according to His plan for us — and His plans are always good.

Go read Jeremiah 29:11, and have a wonderful Sabbath!