By George Sosich
As many of my friends age and begin to feel the effects on their bodies, an increasing number are spending time in the hospital. My heart goes out to them because I know a lot about this, having spent extensive time in the hospital since experiencing kidney failure in 1999.
Being unwell and hospitalized is tough. You have to endure the pain and side effects of your condition and medical procedures, discomfort in bed, often unpalatable food, uncertainty about your health and future, anxiety and pressure on your family, loneliness, and more.
One thing I’ve come to realize through my many stays in the hospital, and more than 1,500 visits for dialysis and other issues (I kid you not), is that many of the other patients I encounter are going through similar trials. I believe one very important reason the Lord allowed me to be there was so I could be a witness to them.
There was one Japanese man in his early forties who was also suffering from kidney failure. He had gained over 30 kilos of fluid and suffered so terribly that, during some agonizing nights, he would cry out for someone to end his life just to stop his pain and suffering.
He was in the bed opposite mine. Though his health had eventually improved, his future remained uncertain. One day, while I was reading the Get Activated booklet entitled “Obstacles Are for Overcoming,” he asked me what I was reading. I told him about it and later gave him a copy in Japanese.
The next day, he returned the booklet to me. I asked if he had read it, and he replied, “I can’t read it anymore, I’ve been crying too much.” He received the Lord and became a good friend.
He subscribed to the Activated magazine, and we met regularly to read the articles and the Bible together, and to pray. His wife and teenage daughters also joined him in fellowship with our Home group. His salvation had a beautiful, transformative impact on him and his loved ones. The Lord took care of him; he eventually received a kidney transplant, returned to work, and did well.
There was also a Japanese woman in her late thirties who I met in the dining room of the hospital during one of my stays. She had suffered kidney failure also, and although she’d received a transplant, she was experiencing complications and faced an uncertain outcome. She had been hospitalized for quite some time and was very lonely and depressed about her situation. She and her husband lived on an island, which made it difficult for him to visit her.
I witnessed to her, and she received the Lord gladly. The transformation was instant. For the remainder of my stay, she was absolutely radiant! When I was discharged, I gave her a Japanese Bible, and we kept in touch. Eventually, she was discharged and returned home to be with her husband. We would meet during our monthly follow-up appointments with the transplant specialists to check our kidney function, and she was indeed a true convert. She wrote me a beautiful letter, thanking me for helping her and expressing how much her life had changed for the better.
I’ve had other wonderful witnessing experiences while hospitalized, but these two stand out as particularly special. To be the instrument the Lord used to bring salvation and near-instant transformation to two Japanese people, who are normally very difficult to reach, was a beautiful and rewarding experience.
I would rather not have had to experience my chronic illness and the resultant many visits and stays in the hospital. There have been countless hours when all I could do was fight for my own life and health with no means to reach out to others. But there have also been many opportunities to minister to my fellow sufferers, even if it was in spite of my own suffering.
“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”—2 Corinthians 1:4
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