A Perfect Gift
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I looked up from preparing breakfast, only to see my husband in the hallway leading from our bedroom. He was wearing a happy smirk on his face as he danced to praise music playing on the radio. I joined him for a few seconds before we cut the dance short with a long hug. My heart was overflowing with praise and thanksgiving. Less than a year earlier, the hospital had sent Earl home “to bed” after more than three weeks of mostly COVID-19 isolation. He was still testing positive for COVID when he was informed his hospital bed was needed for more urgent medical cases. Sadly, no rehab center in our county was admitting COVID patients.
In the hospital bed at home, he looked worse than when he had been admitted to the hospital with a urinary tract infection (UTI). Only one of twelve area home-help organizations was willing to send a caregiver into a COVID-stricken house—for a two-week quarantine period with the patient. And for $14,000! So I decided to undertake caregiving responsibilities with my daughter’s help. But within a week, Earl needed professional care.
A less harried hospital accepted Earl for a week, ending in two consecutive negative COVID tests. Earl was released to a rehab facility and returned home in much better shape than when he had first left. Throughout the grief-causing pandemic, I wondered, Why are some taken and others left? After all, COVID claimed many people in decent health, often younger than Earl. So did each of the other conditions with which Earl was simultaneously afflicted in the hospital—dementia, pneumonia, and the UTI. All I know is that our all-knowing God chose to say yes to the petitions of this distraught wife, her family, her church, and her friends.
In exchange for the “ashes” of disease, pain, grief, and fear, God has given Earl and me true “beauty” (Isaiah 61:3, NKJV). The painful shared hospital experiences have given us a contented sense of togetherness. We welcome each new day as a special gift graciously dispensed by a caring Father. “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!” (Psalm 106:1, NKJV).
Lela Moore Gooding
