Eva and her mother were at the hospital, sitting at the bedside of her father. He was very ill and hadn’t spoken in several days. Eva was feeling a little desperate; she and her mother had prayed so hard, but it looked as if her father was not going to recover.

“Suddenly Dad began speaking, and praising the Lord!” Eva said. “It seemed as if he was seeing Jesus. Less than a half hour later, he died.” As machines shut down, several nurses came into the room to check his pulse and do a final examination. Eva’s mother was devastated, so when the nurses left the room, Eva went with them. She thought her mother might need some time alone.

Eva, of course, was also grieving, but that memory of her father’s vision had made her feel---almost joyful. What had he seen during those last moments? Soon she went back to his room, but now there was another nurse there. Eva hadn’t seen her on any of the shifts, and although she wore an identification tag, there was no name on it. The nurse was talking quietly with her mother, holding her hand, and whatever the nurse was saying was having a calming effect. “I listened for a few moments-—it seemed as if they were talking about the Holy Spirit---and then I left again and walked down to the nurses’ station."

A nurse that she knew gave her a hug. “I’m sorry about your father,” she said.

“Who is that new nurse in his room?” Eva asked. “She’s certainly making my mother feel better.”

“There aren’t any new nurses on this shift,” the woman told Eva as she flipped through the charts. “Just us.”

“But….” By now Eva knew each nurse on each shift. Nor had she seen anyone entering her father’s room, or coming out of it. And when she returned to the room, her mother was alone. “Who was that woman talking with you?” Eva asked.

“A new nurse,” her mother answered. “She was very kind. She just left.”

But Eva had been watching the doorway from her post at the nurses’ station. No one had come out during that time, and she hadn’t passed anyone when she went back into the room.

“Then I realized that God had sent an angel to comfort my mother,” Eva says. “I believe with all my heart that angels come when we are in trouble, sick or sad, whenever we need to be strengthened for what lies ahead.” The following days were difficult, but hopeful. Eva knows she will see her father again.

Joan Anderson Copyrighted by Joan Wester Anderson, used with permission. Originally appeared on the Where Angels Walk website, http://joanwanderson.com