By Kari Dickerson

 

It was a brisk November day in Minnesota and I had just arrived to attend my dear Aunt Bev’s 90^th birthday celebration, and I was so excited to visit with extended family that I rarely get to see. Not many live to see this big birthday! What a momentum occasion!

 

I hadn’t been at the party for even 20 minutes, when I received a call from my father who lives close-by. He was supposed to be arriving soon with my mother, but he informed me that they wouldn’t make it. He didn’t know what to do. Dad said, “I need to get her to the emergency room, but she refuses to go.” I said, “I will be right there, Dad.”

 

I raced to the home I grew up in, and was immediately so saddened by the sight. Yes, Mom’s been sick for a long while, but it’s still hard to see your loved one in such a state. She was so pale and weak, yet stubborn and unrelenting. She was dazed and confused, yet so sure of her resolve. Her clothes were a mishmash of items that should never, ever be put together; yet my love, adoration and desire to protect her could not have been greater.

 

Dad and I finally coaxed her into the car and drove the 40 minutes to the hospital emergency room where they knew her so well. We knew the drill…lab work, neuro assessment, the very difficult IV stick, and the familiar questions. We also knew she was severely anemic again from all of the blood loss. She just kept looking at us both in disgust. It was so hard to bear. “Why? Why did you bring me here again? Don’t make me do this,” she kept repeating. The glaring looks continued as Dad and I tell the doctor the truth about what’s going on.

 

It didn’t take long for the labs to come back and the units of blood to be hung up and begin infusing. Shortly thereafter, we see color coming back into my sweet mom’s cheeks and a smile forming on her face. “Wow, I feel so much better,” she says. “Thank you for making me come here! I don’t know what I would do without you both. I don’t deserve you.”

 

At that moment, God so clearly spoke to me and said, “Look at how quickly replenishing human blood brings back life, restores, and changes the attitude and perspective of a dying mind and body. How much more life-giving is the blood of Jesus to change our hopelessness into joy, and not just bring back life, but give the gift of eternal salvation.

 

Just as my mom felt she didn’t deserve my dad and I; none of us deserve the gift of His body and blood that our Lord Jesus gave for us on the cross. Just as some come reluctantly to be healed in an emergency room, some come reluctantly, near hopelessness to the church, not knowing how much they need to be healed. Who do you know that urgently needs the blood of Jesus Christ right now?