Marsha W. of Racine Wisconsin, was on her way to one of her night
classes. She had been living with her elderly grandparents since she
went back to school in Chicago, and things seemed to be working out
well. Her campus was on the city's lakefront, and several hospital and
emergency centers were nearby, so traffic jams and noise were common.
Tonight, as she waited for the lights to change, she saw an ambulance
zig-zagging ahead of her, apparently caught in the crush of stalled
vehicles. This could be dangerous, she realized. If there was too much
time lost in traffic, the patient could die.
"Then I remembered
something," she says. "When I was a child, we were told to pray whenever
we heard a siren, for the victim and the paramedics as well." It had
been years since she had done so, but now Marsha fell back on her old
habit, and whispered a prayer for everyone involved. Traffic started to
move again, and she lost sight of the flashing lights. Hopefully, things
would be okay.
Several hours later, Marsha arrived home and was
surprised to find a neighbor in her grandparents' apartment. Where were
they? What was going on? "Not to worry," the neighbor reassured Marsha.
"Your grandparents are at the hospital--he has had a heart attack, and
she went with him."
"Are they okay?" Marsha was stunned.
"They
are. Your grandmother said that the traffic was terrible at first, but
everything suddenly smoothed out, and they got to the emergency room in
record time."
Record time? Marsha thought of the lone vehicle
she'd seen, struggling through the crowded streets. Had it been
transporting her grandparents? She might never know. How glad she was
that she had taken the opportunity to whisper that hasty but heartfelt
plea. Who could measure the power of prayer?
Joan Anderson Copyrighted by Joan Wester Anderson, used with permission.
Originally appeared on the Where
Angels Walk website.
