GOD USES COMPUTERS TOO!

By:  MB Smith

It had been a hectic day, one full of doctors appointments and then a dash to the hospital. My 82 year old Mother had a heart attack. As I sat by her bed, my mind began to replay all the scenes of Mama and I together. She had always been there -- through the scraped knees of childhood, the first heartbreak of my teenage years, my wedding day, holding her first grandchild -- Mama had ALWAYS been there. I had never imagined a time without her. I watched her during the night as she slept.

Strange, how much of life we take for granted. Our families, our friends, our homes -- the day to day moments of life -- and yet all too quickly we find ourselves facing life's curves, and we are suddenly faced not only with our loved ones' mortality, but our own.

I decided to go down to the hospital chapel to pray. I walked into a dimly lit room with an altar and a golden cross. Above the altar there was a picture of Jesus. I knelt as tears fell down my face. "Lord, please let Mama be OK ... please." They were the only words I could say because the sobs began. Sobs of wishing I had spent more time with her; sobs of wishing I had spent more time with HIM.

After a while I got up and walked out of the chapel and down the quiet hallway. I noticed a computer with a screen saver so beautiful sitting on a desk. I walked over to it -- peaceful waters, a pink sky that was a reflected majesty of God's creation, and then these words, "I am with thee.." And then the warmth of His love... His joy and the knowledge that HE was with me, and He was with Mama, flooded the depths of my being. I smiled. He had used a computer on a cold winter's night in a hospital to tell His child she was loved and He had heard her prayer.

And I knew that He was with Mama in her room. He used a computer to tell me and a scene of such beauty it lingers still within my mind.

And deep in my heart, I knew that message would be read by others -- all His children -- a message sent from heaven with love.