The Visit

Anxious, never easy for me
Hopeful, pretending confidence
Thankful. just routine
Nothing major
Others suffer much more.

Wait is never very long, yet
The wait is hard.
Surrounding conversations can be negative,
TV drama is unsettling
The Scrabble App distracts me.

The form asks so much
How detailed do I get?
Even a hint of any symptom?
Or just extreme, repeated complaints?
I move through the list quickly.

Good to realize I am healthy,
No symptoms to check, until
Depression?  Maybe...
To check or not to check?
The last line says Prayer Concerns.

I am pleasantly surprised!
Here in this setting
The physician offers prayer?
Would I dare ask?
I am called...

After weighing, cuffing, pressing my wrist,
I wait again,
The healer comes in
She is positive, we chat
We are almost done.

I mention I marked Depression,
She had overlooked it,
I tell her I like Prayer Concerns,
She says she is always ready
The healer holds my hands.

There on table lined with crinkly paper
Watched by health posters on the walls
In that room where fears are born,
She asks the Father to help me
She invites His presence to be real.

Fingers slide across my shoulders as
Anxieties are commanded to go
My palms are lightly rubbed
When she asks for Him to come that near
Then, asks for Him to use me to be His light.

My eyes sting, they are wet
I feel cared for, loved
I thank her, she loves
Her job, her patients, her Lord
Wow, an unexpected ending to this visit.

My heart sings, the anxiety is gone
Use her Lord, she is brave
Protect her
Strengthen, shelter others through her care.
Your servant, doing Kingdom work.