Hope

This post will make a whole lot more sense if you read the posts titled "Still Walking Around" and "Listen up!" before this one......


I communicated with Linda's daughter--I will call her "Ann"--on Facebook. My story about how her mom came to my aid really encouraged her. Ann suggested we exchange numbers! We talked on the phone today! She said that Linda was diagnosed with cancer in 2006.

Ann's story is so incredible, I could hardly sleep last night for thinking about it:


Ann said that Linda was in room 209 at Midland Hospice. I remember that room number well, as that was Marcel’s room at Midland nine years earlier. There were so many visitors to see Linda, her family finally posted visiting hours on her door. A constant stream of people, all the time. I don't doubt that one bit. Linda had a glow about her, and she made a difference in a lot of lives.

When I was first widowed, I was told to really take care of my health, because grief can bring out underlying conditions. Right after losing someone, it is very common to find out about a health condition you didn’t know about earlier.

Ann got very sick after her mother died. She'd never been sick in her life, and suddenly she was diagnosed with kidney problems—renal failure. She went through dialysis, and was eventually told she would need a new kidney. Ann was still busy grieving. One day, she felt God asking her to pray about providing a new kidney.

So Ann prayed about it, and thought about where the kidney would come from. She didn’t want a kidney because someone else died. She didn’t want a kidney from just any person off the street. And, she wanted a kidney from a white person. Ann shared that although that might sound funny, she is Black, and all the people she’d ever seen in dialysis were Black.

She left her prayer thinking she should focus on Hope. And that God was telling her to keep hope in him:  Having Only Positive Expectations.

She wondered why she had to get sick after her mother was gone?! Linda would have nurtured her through something like this. And through prayer, the message Ann received in response to that was, if you had been sick when your mother was here, you could not have taken such loving care of your mother in her last days.

Ann shared her health concerns in an email to her pastor, and the church was praying for a donor match. And then she put it in God’s hands:  “You made the universe, so I know you can get me a kidney if that is what is supposed to happen.”

One day as Ann was about to leave church, a pretty young white woman approached her. The woman said, “Did you know I am going through testing to see if I am a good match to be a kidney donor for you?” They  talked for a moment, and then the young woman moved to shake hands with Ann, offering, “Hi, I’m Hope.”

As it turned out, Hope was the youth pastor's wife, and she was the closest, most perfect match the doctor had ever seen. For any match. Ever. Looking at the lab results alone, he assumed they were sisters. Hope told the doctor, “Well, we are sisters in Christ.”

The day after Ann's last birthday, she received a new kidney from Hope.

Ann attributes the way it worked out of course to God first, but it didn't hurt to have her mom behind the scenes pullling strings, too. I have to say, I don't doubt that one bit.

Just before I (a stranger) wrote to Ann on Facebook introducing myself to share a story about her mom...Ann had prayed and said,"You know, Mom? I'd really like to hear from you...."