Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is There

As the hospital room door closed and my family headed home for the night, a nurse came in to check my IV. I was trying hard to be strong but couldn’t keep the hot tears from pouring down my face. 

It had only been a week after our little Cora’s perfect delivery. I’d returned to the hospital in excruciating pain with a mysterious infection and blood clot in my right ovary.

“If I had beautiful family, such as you have, I cry, too.” Her soft words, although in broken English, were comfort and care beyond any medical help she could give. True empathy and concern in her eyes. 

Despite being our second time stationed in Germany, I didn’t know her language well enough to have a heart-to-heart conversation. But that’s the thing about God’s grace in the hardest moments. He is Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is There. Always. In the beautiful moments of kissing my delicate newborn baby girl (who stayed with me at the hospital) and in the painful moments of medical treatments, missing my husband and 4 older children, and feeling inadequate to communicate in a foreign language. He was there.

God brought me a nurse’s care (He’s doing that all over the world today) and simple words to remind me that He never leaves me. He was there and is there. In our sorrow and sadness. If you and I look closely, we will see Him taking care of us right now. In our homes, around those we love, and in every nation. And using us to care for those who need to know that He is there.

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people both now and forevermore.” ~ Psalm 125:2b