This Dieing Stuff

Death is something that has become not so uncommon in my world lately. That is one of the hazards of working in the ER. When I was in school, I was told by many of my professors that when a person is in the hospital, they are likely to be receptive of spiritual things. Many times, walls that exist when a person is well are easily broken down when he is ill. I had the opposite experience yesterday.
When I arrived at work, I received a patient who had end-stage lung cancer with metastases to the liver and spine. She was not responding well to chemotherapy anymore and came to us with severe difficulty breathing and a dangerously low blood pressure. With her family, she had decided that she did not want any heroic life-saving measures taken. In short, my patient was dieing.
During the course of our time together, she turned to me and said “This dieing stuff is hard.”
Being the attentive nurse that I try to be, I recognized this as a prime opportunity to talk with her about spiritual things. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind if I prayed with her. This question usually opens up communication lines as patients share what they would like you to pray about. However, my patient was not so receptive. She said that prayer helps some people, but she did not want to be prayed with.
So I asked if she would mind if I prayed for her later by myself. Her response was the same. She said that she did not feel that she was helped by prayer and that it might make some people feel better, but it did not help her.
It is at a point like this that the four spiritual laws or a traditional approach to sharing the Gospel doesn’t work to well, but I was able to share with her that I know a mighty God who hears and answers prayer. I know that He heard my prayer for my dieing patient this morning and I can only pray that He touches her life in a way that opens her eyes to her need for a Savior.