Sharing One's Faith
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series II Cycle B
One of the greatest joys for believers is that chance to share our faith with each other and others. The following is part of a testimony given by Kathy Bohl, an RN from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to a group of representatives from Gideons International:
"I was baptized at the age of twelve, but I didn't fully understand the implications. It was just the thing to do. I asked Jesus into my heart later one night in my bedroom. I didn't make that step of faith public, and over the next ten years just about everything else became more important than God. Even though I let go of him, he held onto me.
"After a couple of years out of nursing school, I joined the Traveling Nurse Corps and on the first plane out I rededicated my life and my career to God. Having grown up in a tiny town in rural Pennsylvania, I wanted my first assignment to be in a big city, so I requested Portland, Phoenix, or Boston. When the Nurse Corps called, they asked, 'How about Colorado?' They assured me it would only be for one month. That assignment turned out to be permanent.
"I worked in the Intensive Care Unit in Cortez. Geographically, it is located in southwest Colorado, the only hospital for 100 miles in some directions. The town borders the Ute and Navajo Indian reservations. There is a lot of Peyote religion and Satan worship in the area.
"But there is a very strong Christian community as well. It was not uncommon for one side of the family to be Peyote where the medicine man would pray. The Christian side of the family would go over and pray together over the patient as well. A very sweet sound to me was the American Indians praying and singing in their native language and hearing, so plainly in every few words, the name of Jesus.
"Just the presence of the Gideon Bibles in the bedside stands and the prayers that went with them meant spiritual warfare in the unit. There were many times when I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit or the power of Satan as he fought to take lives there. I wasn't the only one. Other Christian nurses often felt the same things.
"Once I had spent a day taking care of a very ill, elderly Ute Indian gentleman. He didn't speak any English but was very restless and obviously distraught. On his window sill, I found a fan made of eagle feathers, so I asked his family what it was. They said they brought it in because he had been hearing the evil spirits calling him; because he was afraid he was going to die, the fan was there to wave away the evil spirits! A traveling nurse, a very charismatic Christian, came to relieve me after I had taken care of him. Before I could say anything to her, she said, 'You know what? Last night when I went in to take care of him, I felt my hair stand on end, and I had to pray before I could go near him!'
"One patient I shared my testimony with was Mr. B. He had chronic lung disease and because of it would retain CO2 to life-threatening levels. He would get so sick, come into ICU, and be put on a ventilator until his levels would drop. Then he could go home for a couple of days. He had to do this several times and each time was a very miserable experience. It's really a nightmare for the patient when this occurs.
"One time he had had it. He was refusing to be put on the ventilator and told his nurse he wanted to die. I agreed to talk to him. When I went into his room, I found him sitting up in his bed breathing very fast and looking very ill. He was still coherent, so I began to talk to him about the seriousness of his illness. Then I asked him if he knew where he would go when he died. He said, 'I'm not worried about that. I've been a good man all my life. I raised good kids and was a good husband.' We talked and I read to him the gospel from the Bible.
"A very short time later his nurse found me again and this time she was very excited. She exclaimed, 'Mr. B said he's healed!' I ran with her, rather doubtingly, back to his room. Sure enough, he was sitting up on the bed looking very animated and he told me the same thing. 'I know God healed me! I had this feeling come into the top of my head and down through my body and out of my feet, and I know I'm healed!'
"We had the blood gases done early and, sure enough, his CO2 level had dropped from 80 to 35! It was most definitely a miracle. Shortly after that, the doctor taking care of him came in. He is a Christian and the nurse and I were so excited we were both talking at once, telling him the story. He just smiled as if he already knew. I'm sure he had been praying for him.
"Mr. B's family arrived and, after sharing the story with them, we found out that they were Christian and had called out-of-town family members. We had all been praying for him at the exact time he was healed! We were so overpowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit that night and that he had allowed us to be a part of that, we could hardly function. God gave us so many people to share with that night. We prayed and praised God together."
"I was baptized at the age of twelve, but I didn't fully understand the implications. It was just the thing to do. I asked Jesus into my heart later one night in my bedroom. I didn't make that step of faith public, and over the next ten years just about everything else became more important than God. Even though I let go of him, he held onto me.
"After a couple of years out of nursing school, I joined the Traveling Nurse Corps and on the first plane out I rededicated my life and my career to God. Having grown up in a tiny town in rural Pennsylvania, I wanted my first assignment to be in a big city, so I requested Portland, Phoenix, or Boston. When the Nurse Corps called, they asked, 'How about Colorado?' They assured me it would only be for one month. That assignment turned out to be permanent.
"I worked in the Intensive Care Unit in Cortez. Geographically, it is located in southwest Colorado, the only hospital for 100 miles in some directions. The town borders the Ute and Navajo Indian reservations. There is a lot of Peyote religion and Satan worship in the area.
"But there is a very strong Christian community as well. It was not uncommon for one side of the family to be Peyote where the medicine man would pray. The Christian side of the family would go over and pray together over the patient as well. A very sweet sound to me was the American Indians praying and singing in their native language and hearing, so plainly in every few words, the name of Jesus.
"Just the presence of the Gideon Bibles in the bedside stands and the prayers that went with them meant spiritual warfare in the unit. There were many times when I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit or the power of Satan as he fought to take lives there. I wasn't the only one. Other Christian nurses often felt the same things.
"Once I had spent a day taking care of a very ill, elderly Ute Indian gentleman. He didn't speak any English but was very restless and obviously distraught. On his window sill, I found a fan made of eagle feathers, so I asked his family what it was. They said they brought it in because he had been hearing the evil spirits calling him; because he was afraid he was going to die, the fan was there to wave away the evil spirits! A traveling nurse, a very charismatic Christian, came to relieve me after I had taken care of him. Before I could say anything to her, she said, 'You know what? Last night when I went in to take care of him, I felt my hair stand on end, and I had to pray before I could go near him!'
"One patient I shared my testimony with was Mr. B. He had chronic lung disease and because of it would retain CO2 to life-threatening levels. He would get so sick, come into ICU, and be put on a ventilator until his levels would drop. Then he could go home for a couple of days. He had to do this several times and each time was a very miserable experience. It's really a nightmare for the patient when this occurs.
"One time he had had it. He was refusing to be put on the ventilator and told his nurse he wanted to die. I agreed to talk to him. When I went into his room, I found him sitting up in his bed breathing very fast and looking very ill. He was still coherent, so I began to talk to him about the seriousness of his illness. Then I asked him if he knew where he would go when he died. He said, 'I'm not worried about that. I've been a good man all my life. I raised good kids and was a good husband.' We talked and I read to him the gospel from the Bible.
"A very short time later his nurse found me again and this time she was very excited. She exclaimed, 'Mr. B said he's healed!' I ran with her, rather doubtingly, back to his room. Sure enough, he was sitting up on the bed looking very animated and he told me the same thing. 'I know God healed me! I had this feeling come into the top of my head and down through my body and out of my feet, and I know I'm healed!'
"We had the blood gases done early and, sure enough, his CO2 level had dropped from 80 to 35! It was most definitely a miracle. Shortly after that, the doctor taking care of him came in. He is a Christian and the nurse and I were so excited we were both talking at once, telling him the story. He just smiled as if he already knew. I'm sure he had been praying for him.
"Mr. B's family arrived and, after sharing the story with them, we found out that they were Christian and had called out-of-town family members. We had all been praying for him at the exact time he was healed! We were so overpowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit that night and that he had allowed us to be a part of that, we could hardly function. God gave us so many people to share with that night. We prayed and praised God together."
