The Phone Call

by Kay Heitsch 

When the phone rang, I rolled over and looked at the clock. "Who would be calling at this hour?" I mumbled. I answered the phone. When I put the phone to my ear, all I could hear was a woman sobbing. "Oh Lord, who is this? She must have the wrong number," I reasoned as I tried to shake myself awake. Finally, through her sobs, I heard her say, "Kay, my name is Sue.* You don't know me. I need someone to talk to." There was a pause as she caught her breath. Sue began to sob again, then cried out, "My little boy is dead! It was a horrible accident. I ran over him today with the tractor."

 WHOA! My mind was having a hard time taking all of this in. I started to think, "Am I awake, or is this a bad dream?" For a few seconds, I wasn't quite sure. Sue started to calm down a bit, then explained what had happened that afternoon. As best as I can recall, Sue had decided to mow their big yard with a tractor. Her young son Bobby* wanted to ride on her lap while she cut. For some reason, he fell off her lap and landed under the blade. Bobby was killed! 

I have no idea what I said when Sue shared the details of the day. I've learned that words aren't necessary when a person is grieving. The grieving person needs to talk about what happened, sometimes repeating the story many times. I don't understand this, but I've seen that talking about the situation seems to help with the healing process. Sue and I talked and talked. Besides talking about the accident, she shared that she was married and had an older daughter, Lisa*, who was about eight years old. Sue said that Lisa was having a tough time dealing with her little brother's death. 

During the next few days, I prayed many times for ways to help Sue and Lisa. The day arrived for Bobby's funeral. I knew I needed to be there for Sue. While I was getting dressed for the funeral, I had a Divine inspiration. A thought came to me to buy Lisa a stuffed animal. I left the house early and stopped at a local store, and bought a cute stuffed animal. I didn't have time to wrap it, so I bought a pretty gift bag and some colored tissue paper. I put the stuffed animal in the bag and topped it off with the tissue paper. I knew this thought to buy the stuffed animal must be from the Lord since I'd never done anything like this before, or even thought of it, for that matter. 

When I walked into the funeral home, I saw little Lisa sitting with her head hanging down. I walked over and handed her the pretty gift bag. Lisa looked up with tears in her eyes and gave me a faint smile. She removed the stuffed animal from the gift bag and held it close throughout the service. I could see that having this stuffed animal was bringing comfort to Lisa. 

To this day, I still don't know who gave Sue my phone number, but I know the Lord does. I was in the grieving process myself when the phone call came. As I prayed and allowed God to show His love through me, I also received God's healing balm of love, healing my wounded heart. 

* Names have been changed.