LAMBENT LIGHT

I was asked to take charge of one of the children’s wards for the night. Due to much sickness among staff at the hospital, I was asked to fill in. This was an exceedingly special circumstance. The hospital had a staffing crisis due to this infectious disease spreading so rapidly. I was promised a special speedy backup should I need it. All that would be required was for me to dial just one number on the ward telephone.This was no walk-in-the-park duty. Some children had had surgery that day and there was a little boy with a serious condition of either croup or Diphtheria. This ward was a ‘Nightingale’ ward and of course, at night, the ward is much darker. The lights are dimmed and one has a portable torch to carry for close-up work. Everybody tries to be as quiet as possible so that the children may sleep. I was to wait for a consultant to come to ascertain the correct diagnosis for this little boy. Imagine this. On the boy’s bedside locker sat a tracheostomy set. If his breathing stopped I was to cut open his trachea and insert a breathing tube and wait for help to arrive. The amazing thing was that I actually knew how to do it. His breathing was labored and noisy and that meant that wherever I was, I could hear him. As long as I could hear him breathe, I could breathe! Suddenly the Consultant arrived. It was past midnight. He was wearing a cape and was dressed in a tuxedo. He stood at the entrance to the ward, in all his pomp and grandeur. He did not introduce himself. He did not appear to ensure I was even there, or that anybody else was even there. He just shouted in a deep roar, “There is no Diphtheria here. So! My little charge had croup. I would not be operating on him that night!As the night progressed, and all appeared well, the time came when I could take my meal break. The staff room was a short walk away. I was all ready to settle with my coffee and my crossword puzzle, yet I didn’t even get to sit down. For some reason, I returned to the ward. I still don’t know why. There was no thought in my head that I needed to return. Nothing was concerning me. There were no nagging thoughts. No anxieties. Furthermore, I didn’t even ask myself why I was returning. I was compelled. Here was God’s lambent light guiding me back. A bright light I could not see.I headed straight for one of the side wards where a student was caring for a baby that had had surgery that day. He was being nursed on a ‘crucifix’ splint so that his tiny limbs could not interfere with the wound on his abdomen. As I looked in through the window, I saw that the nurse was giving him a bottle. Not an easy task with a baby in such a splint. The child’s face was black. The fluid was going into his lungs. The nurse had not noticed. There was a ward telephone right where I was. This was wonderful, since not all rooms had the bell that near. I pressed the special number, which I had been given earlier, as I immediately entered the cubicle, and within seconds help arrived. I rushed to an adjoining ward to fetch a portable suction machine. His tiny lungs were cleared. He was saved. He breathed normally. I asked that same nurse to continue with his feed, and we noticed together that her habit was to watch that the level was going down in the feeding bottle. This would show that the baby was strong enough to suck – something we have to check – but not to the detriment of checking the baby’s color. Many mothers can fall into this trap too with strong healthy babies. This child was the son of a vicar. Naturally, I wonder what became of him. However, until I was saved, I never knew why I returned to that ward and went straight to that baby. It mystified me and became a secret that I could not share. If I ever told the story, colleagues would assume that being in charge and so junior had obviously given me anxieties. Only I knew that was not the way it was. God needed me to save that life. Just because I did not know God, did not change God’s plan for that baby. This makes me believe that when God wants us to know something, or to do something, He will make it happen. That baby’s life was not dependent on my knowing God, but rather on God knowing what God wanted. God does not change. God used me to save that baby despite my not knowing Him. This is a theological concept that tells us that God shows grace to all mankind.I quoted Isaiah earlier and that next verse goes on to say, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” ESV. Isaiah 55:9. The only reason I can now tell these stories is because I have faith in God. Things I chose to keep a secret, were explained as soon as I was saved. It is awe-inspiring to me to have experienced this incidence with the baby. I had been an instrument for God. Having said that though, I still feel hesitant to relate these things because there are people seeking miracles in all things. If people get better from an illness, I hear a miracle being claimed. There is such a difference between a miracle and God’s providence. God puts people in the right place at the right time for His own glory.