A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:23-24

Someone needs you. Someone needs you. Someone needs you. Over and over these words flooded my mind from the moment I opened my eyes that morning. I knew that it was the Holy Spirit talking to me. As I went about my usual routine that morning, I asked God to show me who needed me that day. I clipped on my badge, slung on my white coat and draped my stethoscope around my neck. First stop, ICU.

Immediately upon entering the room, I knew I had found who needed me. She sat in the corner, weeping, bible open in her lap, reading Proverbs 16. The night before she found her mother unresponsive in bed. After suffering a cardiac arrest, she underwent prolonged efforts to revive her. And while this was successful, it left her with an extensive injury to her brain from lack of oxygen. It was clear that she would not survive and my team had been called in to help this family walk through this journey.

I introduced myself to the daughter. She was there with her husband, her father having left to get her brother, over an hour away. Her mother was fading fast and it wasn’t certain whether she would survive until they returned. Distracted by her anger toward them for not being present, she was on a roller coaster of emotions. I gently reminded her that the time of her mother’s death is not up to us. I shared my firm belief that whoever is to be present when a person dies will be present. If her father and brother were to be there, God will see to it. And if she is the only one hear, God saved this moment for the two of them.

She questioned her decision to have the paramedics try so long to revive her mother. If she had not permitted them to continue their efforts, her family would not have the opportunity to say goodbye and she would live the rest of her life wondering if things would have turned out differently. This likely would have left her with an insurmountable guilt that would cripple her. She wholeheartedly agreed.

Standing around the bed, I asked her to tell me about her mother. She shared how they were best friends and the greatest gift her mother ever gave her was Jesus. I acknowledged the peace that comes with knowing that she will see her mother again in heaven. She then described to me what her mother’s heaven would look like. Her’s would be the biggest mansion on the block, decorated in gold with the ocean in the backyard. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and said, “This isn’t your fault. There was no way you could have known that this would happen and nothing you could have done would have stopped this.” She then began to weep with relief, relieved of the burden that she had missed something that led to her mother’s death.

Before I left the room, I shared with her that the Holy Spirit had laid her on my heart that morning. He told me that she needed me. She called me an angel sent from above. The highest of honors. She wrapped me in a 2-minute hug and thanked me. As I left that room, I knew that she would be okay.

And then the phrase that had been on repeat all morning, “Someone needs you”, stopped.