Liz Gwyn - Amazing Stories of Life After Death: True Accounts of Angelic, Afterlife, and Divine Encounters

F UNNY THINGS HAPPEN in the workplace, and I dont mean practical jokes and the like. Although a good practical joke does relieve a little stress if the recipient has a good sense of humor, Im not one for practical jokes. They really annoy me. Being a nurse, I really dont have time, and a health care environment is not usually the place to pull pranks. Those of us in this field need to stay focused on what were doing, not be busy playing jokes on one another.

Now with that being said, a funny thing happened to me a few years ago at work. For the first time in my nearly ten years as a nurse, I cared for a patient named Moses. To some that might not be funny or even ironic, but to me it was. In my naivet I didnt know anyone had ever named their child Moses. I really thought the only Moses ever to walk the earth was the man we find in the Old Testament. After I received the report from the night shift nurse, I was eager to go and see who this Moses was.

With my hair up in its normal ponytail, I entered his room through the glass door of the isolated room armed with my nursing accessories (scissors, pens of various colors, Critical Care Pocket Guide, alcohol swabs, Band-Aids, and anything else I could stuff in my pocket that might be of use at a moments notice). My stethoscope bounced lazily against my chest. The blue curtain was pulled all of the way across the room blocking my view. I kindly warned, Good morning. My name is Liz, and Ill be taking care of you today, as I pulled back the curtain.

Moses looked up, his eyes full of pain and hurt. Although he lay on the bed under the sheets, I could tell he was tall with a muscular body.

I tried to lighten his mood. You are the first person I have ever met named Moses! What made your family name you Moses?

He grinned a little and said, My mama.

How awesome to be called a deliverer from birth! Tell me about yourself. I continued to assess his health status as we talked.

Reluctant to talk at first about his personal life, he did finally open up enough for me to learn he lived with friends most of the time and had a sister whom he saw from time to time.

I had learned from the report that he was a long-time alcoholic and was in end-stage liver and heart failure. He was only in his forties. He didnt look like anyone who was near the end of his life. Im sure this weighed heavily on his mind.

When I completed my assessment, I let him know I would be back to check on him in a few minutes. As I left the room, his breakfast was delivered.

I grieved for the man who carried a powerful name but was dying from alcoholism. I determined I would give him more opportunity to talk about his life and what he hoped to accomplish with the little time he had left. I checked on him quite often that day. Each time we talked a little, and the walls came down a little bit more.

Eventually we were able to talk about his hopes. Like all patients in his condition, he wanted to live a little while longer. I could sense there was more, but at that point his primary concern was living longer, and thats all he shared with me. Its sad to see people near the end of their life with regrets. Unfortunately we see this a lot. Many people realize they didnt do something they should have or have simply devoted their time and energy to things they thought were important but really werent.

When we talked about his spiritual walk, Moses admitted he believed there was a God and he believed in Jesus. But he didnt feel he could approach Him. How many times have we heard this story before? People are afraid to approach our Lord and Savior because they feel they are not worthy. We are valuable to God, so valuable Jesus died for our sins so we can be worthy. That concept is hard for many to comprehend.

We also see this mentality in people who think they need to get their lives in order before they will attend church. This is backward. We should come to Christ for help getting our lives back in order, not wait to get it in order and then approach Him.

As Moses and I talked various times that day, I encouraged him that with a name like his, God had something planned for his life. I believe a name does define the potential in a person. I shared my feelings numerous times about the significance of a name. He seemed surprised that he could be anybody of any value. This is common among long-time drug addicts and alcoholics.

Sometime during the second day of caring for Moses and because of much conversation about God, Moses finally decided he wanted to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Just as Moses finished his prayer to the Lord, a manprobably in his late thirties or early fortiesentered the room. He said he was walking by the room and felt the need to come in.

I said excitedly, Moses just asked Jesus to be his Lord!

I thought the man was a member of Mosess family, but it turns out he was a pastor. When he introduced himself, I realized none of us knew one another. We all looked at one another with a stunned look on our faces. After a brief moment of things being awkward, the pastor, satisfied that he had walked in on what God drew him in there for, said Praise God! and left the room.

The lesson that came to mind in dealing with Moses is that God always has a backup plan. Because of free will we may not follow the path planned for our lives. More than likely weve strayed a time or two. So God switches to the backup plan.

Whos to say that Moses should have given his life to the Lord years before he finally did? He may have had the opportunity, possibly numerous times, but chose instead to run from the Lord, either intentionally or unintentionally. Either way Moses made the commitment that day.

He recovered and was discharged, something I never thought would happen. Most patients in his condition never recover. About three weeks later I came into the unit for a report.

Moses was back. It concerned me because I automatically thought he had went back to his old ways. I was wrong. We spoke briefly. He was back for medication adjustments. He had not started drinking again and had started telling his family he had given his life to Jesus. He had moved in with a family member who went to church. He was much happier. There was a glow of hope about him he didnt have during the first hospital stay. He was there only a day or two for med adjustments and was discharged home. I never saw him again after that.

For it is through Him that we both [whether far off or near] now have an introduction (access) by one [Holy] Spirit to the Father [so that we are able to approach Him].
EPHESIANS 2:18

A FEW YEARS BACK I was assigned a patient with a disease I had never heard ofnecrotizing fasci-itis. When I started my shift that morning, the reporting nurse told me that this particular disease was deadly and its victims rarely lived. Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating disease or flesh-eating bacteria syndrome, is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues. It spreads easily across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue.

Ive mentioned before that being a nurse can be tough and some afflictions are tougher to deal with than others. This one, for me, was the toughest. I saw and experienced things I hope I never endure again. As I cared for this patient, whom well call Doug, I probably felt like throwing up more times than I care to remember.

Doctors normally treat necrotizing fasciitis with surgery based on a high index of suspicion determined by the patients signs and symptoms. The surgical removal of the infected tissue is the only treatment available for necrotizing fasciitis and is always necessary to keep the disease from spreading. Doctors confirm diagnosis by visual examination of the tissues and by tissue samples sent for microscopic evaluation.

Early medical treatment is often presumptive. Initial treatment often includes a combination of intravenous antibiotics that include penicillin, vancomycin, and clindamycin. Cultures are taken to determine appropriate antibiotic coverage, and antibiotics may be changed when culture results are obtained.