Who You Gonna Call?

When You Really Need Help, Who You Gonna Call?

Who do you call out for when you absolutely, positively have to have help?

This is a very serious question and we all have, are, or will face a pressing need at some point in our lives. As has been said, regarding the storms of life: You are either in one, coming out of one, or about to go into one!

Personally, I cry to Jesus. Because I know that He is always there—ALWAYS!

“…lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:20b NKJV

Jesus spoke this promise to His disciples just before He ascended into heaven, and His physical body left them. Powerful words of encouragement for the disciples who were likely frightened and confused in that moment. They immediately had to put faith into believing those words of Jesus were true and that He would somehow still be with them—forever. It may have been a bit harder for them to believe it having spent so much time with Him as He taught them and preached to the multitudes. Perhaps it is a bit easier for us who always must live by faith and not by sight where His presences is concerned. It is a choice we make to believe that He is, that He is who He says He is, and that He will do what He says He will do.

Not only did He promise to be with us always, He also promised to never leave or forsake us. No. Matter. What.

He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 
Hebrews 13:5b NKJV

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These promises of Jesus have taken on fresh meaning for me this month. I needed them immensely and being able to hold onto these words which I believe and know to be profoundly true got me through some dark moments, and hours, and days. 

When we are faced with physical pain, we cry out. It is instinctual, primal. We all do it. From the time we are babies until we are old and frail and may not even still know who we are, we still cry out in pain. What can be more raw? What can be more real?

The question for us, as we grow out of infancy and primal reactions into adulthood, is who do we cry out to, who do we reach out for?

Babies just cry until someone bigger and stronger and loving can come and ease their pain. Little children cry out for mama or daddy. Teens and young adults may also cry out to friends for help. We cry out to doctors and nurses, anyone and everyone who might be able to stop our suffering as fast as possible. Because pain can’t be ignored for very long.

Some of us (like me) will try to grit our teeth through it for as long as possible; but there will eventually be a reckoning or a healing. Perhaps both.

Such was the situation I found myself in a couple of weeks ago. 

I Called

I woke up on a Monday morning with a belly ache. Ok. That is a bit of an understatement, but that is how I treated it for many hours until mid afternoon. I finally informed my husband that I needed to call for an ambulance because this doubled-over-unable-to-breathe posture I kept assuming was not going to cut it any longer. So after an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital, a CT scan that did not show a definitive diagnosis, an ER doc reticent to admit for observation, I was sent home with pain meds to fend for myself. That lasted until early the next evening, when I was down to the last pain pill and too many hours left in the day. Off again in the ambulance, diagnosis made, admitted, and many hours of waiting in the ER for a room to open upstairs. Sometimes pain medicine works well, other times, not so much. So during the times of not so much, I was doing some crying out!

I had already learned that the call button on the gurney did not always result in response or relief, so who could I call out to?

For the Christian, these are the times when the rubber meets the road. When your faith and strength is being tested to its limits, what is your response? I am so thankful for God’s grace in those moments that gave me faith to call out to the only One who I knew could and would hear and respond! Jesus got an earful from me that evening and on into the next afternoon when I was finally taken to a hospital room with a real bed. And on into the week as my doctors tried to avoid surgery with antibiotics, fluids, and pain meds. He heard me through it all and kept me from falling apart.

He Answered

When surgery became inevitable, in a very hurry up fashion on Friday, Jesus answered in a very specific and precious way that few would understand but me. He orchestrated it over time and distance and reached me with His message at the exact right moment. He had given my Aunt, who lives several states away, a very special dream about me the night before, which she related to my sister earlier that day when neither one knew surgery was inevitable in a few hours. My sister was able to convey the dream to me literally minutes before they whisked me off to surgery. It was profoundly comforting and gave me peace and assurance that, yes, He was there and He was watching over and loving me! How like Jesus to love us like no other. I am still overwhelmed as I think of it.

I’m so grateful to Jesus for His gentle reminder of His promise to never leave me or forsake me, that He is with me, even to the end of the age. He means every word He says. And He always keeps His promises. Always.

Thank you, Jesus!

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Feature image stairs in sky by lilkar, white telephone photo by jodiecoston via Canva Pro.