Such is..

Don't know if to write about this or not; don't want to sound really wonderful or anything because it's totally not because of me but inspite of me...

but it's been hanging around in my head for the past few days because it's so unreal when God actually moves that it's hard to actually believe...

Anyway, 2 weeks ago I went to sit in with the geriatrician for the his day clinic. His last patient was an elderly woman who's facing a lot of stress since the death of her husband 2 years ago from cancer. It was an assessment consult so the doctor spent considerable time doing history taking, diagnosed her with affective depression and started her on SSRIs.

She left the room, I had a quick round up with the doctor and then went to the toilet with the intention of going for lunch after that.

It so happenned that I met her in the toilet and started chatting to her a bit more (hmm..ladies and toilets=long wait, haha). Just as I was walking out, she said that she was going to have Japanese for lunch nearby and asked if I would like to join her.

The first thought that came to my mind was that it wasn't such a good idea to have overly personalized student & patient relationships, especially with a depressed patient. Plus, Japanese lunch=$$, not particularly economical. Was about to call my friend to meet up for lunch like we normally do too. (Oh and I should add, I actually made lunch but forgot to take it out of the fridge which is not something I usually forget to do)

So I declined her offer and tried to call my friend.
But something inside of me prompted me to cancel my plans and have lunch with her.
The phrase "for such a time as this" just flashed past me, somehow.

Ran after her a bit, and off we went for lunch.
Talked about family, her daily routines, hobbies, about her husband.
Ordered lunch, talked some more.

She was facing a lot of stress from grief and also as her children were not in Australia. Her children also had marital problems, she was very concerned for her grandchildren.

While I was eating (a nice sushi lunch btw!) I was thinking of ways to try and slip in something about Jesus & praying for a suitable/appropriate opportunity. Yet it was hard, because I didn't want to take advantage of a patient's illness (esp depression) and forcefully push it.

but yea...God does have a sense of humor and works when we least expect Him to
cuz just as we were about to finish, suddenly out of the blue she says
"So what do you think about Buddhism and Christianity?"

Seriously it was totally unexpected because no where in our conversation prior did we come close to even talking about religion!

Went on to have a bit of a discussion about on what she thought and what I thought. Shared a bit about Jesus and the cross. A bit about my family's crisis. I must confess I'm still not really good in these things. I don't know if our conversation made a whole lot of impact, but as she mentioned she had a bible at home, did ask her to read if she had time.

But it was just the way God orchestrated the whole lunch which amazes me.



Just a side note: She even paid for my sushi lunch, even after I paid the waitress. She took the money and gave it back to me.
Yea, God does have a sense of good humor and wonder. :)