bread of life

Bethany Fuller shares a testimony of God answering her prayer for her patient.

‘Is there any hope?’ The anguished eyes of my patient turn to me as I stand by his bedside, the last remaining member of staff after the ever-sprawling surgical ward round. He is staring at me, clutching at every word I might say to alleviate the dark picture the consultant has just painted. What do I say, Lord? This man has advanced oesophageal cancer and can hardly swallow; they have already attempted to place a nasogastric (NG) feeding tube twice under sedation and failed; the consultant has just delivered the news that they will attempt to place an NG once more if radiology gives the go-ahead, but that it is very unlikely to be successful. He could be put on total parenteral nutrition (nutrition straight into the vein) so he doesn’t starve, but this means he would be in hospital for weeks waiting for arrangements to be made in the community. And besides, this is not a long-term solution for him and would be significant in moving him towards palliative care. He is a single father. Lord, what do I say?

As he lifted his searching, troubled eyes from the floor to my face, the Lord helped me and gave me the words to say: ‘There is always hope.’ Later on, while I was helping him change into the hospital gown before the third and final attempt at NG insertion, I knew I needed to pray for him. I asked if he would be happy for me to pray, and he was. So, I prayed with the patient that Jesus would help the surgeons and that the procedure would be successful so that he could eat.

I completed the short walk by his bedside as the porter wheeled him down to theatre, left him with the theatre staff and retraced my steps back to the ward. Throughout the next hour, I was praying and asking the Lord to answer my prayer for him, ‘Lord, hear my prayer, let this work and would your name be glorified!’.

And God answered the prayer! The NG insertion was successful against all odds, and he came back with tears in his eyes, saying, ‘I know there is a God up there’. Our Father is good and hears our prayers. This prayer for physical nutrition was answered by the Lord, who is himself the Bread of Life. May we always give him all the glory for answering us and making his name great and honoured on the lips of his people, and even those who have not yet tasted the Bread from Heaven.

Bethany Fuller is a staff nurse in Southern England