Flat on my back, I was recovering from left hip replacement surgery.
I felt lonely in the darkness in the middle of the night. Suddenly, I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling. My breath was taken away a bit when I realized what stood out in the gloom: a bright cross above my chest on the ceiling. At first, I blinked my eyes to make sure it was there. Opening my eyes again, it still was.
I looked around to see where it was coming from. Perhaps some hall lights are reflecting it, I thought. I had no one else in the room, so it wasn’t coming from people. A bit frustrated, I couldn’t find any explanation for the cross on my ceiling.
My heart filled with warmth as I yielded to God’s Spirit and talked to my Lord. He had died on the cross and was telling me He was with me in my pain. I lay there in the darkness with my warm heart until I fell asleep. I never saw the cross on the ceiling in my subsequent nights in the hospital, but I was comforted each time I remembered its visit.
When overwhelming pain is your companion, remember your blessed Lord promises never to leave or forsake you. Keep looking up and pressing on in trustful patience.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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The Rev. Dr. Bob Segress served as a licensed psychological clinician for twenty-five years. Upon retiring, he served for fifteen years as a prison minister. Retiring again, he began writing full-time after a period of boredom. He has written: The Biblical Approach To Psychology while serving as a college educator, The Shelton Series, and, in 2012, Ten Years Inside Shelton Prison. Currently, he writes for several publications such as Halo Magazine.