Jenelle's Neighbor

The economy was collapsing, I had lost my job and my previous employer was laying people off. I applied for a job with the Census Bureau.

In the spring I was trained and sent out as a per-census canvasser. I was working a familiar neighborhood in Venice Gardens when Lois, a former acquaintance, came out of her house to say hello. She walked with me as I made my way around the block. She told me she had lost her husband in November and felt lonely and lost. Its hard for her to get around and she has to take the bus if she has to get anywhere. She didn’t have a car and she doesn’t drive.
I asked why didn’t you call me and she said she didn’t want to bother people.
I said, “Don’t feel bad asking for help. That’s why God put us on earth to help one another. He would have stopped at one if he didn’t mean for us to take care of each other. Besides, when you ask someone for help you are actually doing them a favor because it makes them feel needed and wanted. It gives them a purpose.”

When we came to the end of Sheridan Drive, Lois returned to her house and I continued my work. I gave her my number and figured I was on her call list.

The very next day I was canvassing the opposite side of Sheridan Dr. I parked in a driveway of a house I new to be empty and proceeded to walk the block.
Someone drives up in a van with Lois in it. She flagged me down and said she was on her way to the emergency room, she said she had chest pains. The man driving the van was with Jehovah Witness who said “he felt the need” to stop by her house that day. He didn’t know why he just knew he had to drop by. He walked in the door and took one look at her and asked what’s wrong. He had taken her to a walk in clinic and the people there said to take her to the emergency room. He said he had other engagements and couldn’t stay with her, and asked if I could.

I said I would finish this block and meet them in the ER. When I arrived she was sitting there alone, feeling anxious with pains both in her chest and back. I became her hand-holder. We chatted and I learned her family lived mostly in Minnesota. I said once she was admitted I would call them and let them know her situation. She called a friend, who was like an adopted daughter, and asked if she would come down.
The doctors came by and said her EKG and other tests were normal and they felt it wasn’t a heart attack and that made her feel better.

When her friend arrived she seemed agitated and more upset than the situation called for and I didn’t understand why. By this time it was nearly 7 P.M. and Lois was getting hungry so I left her with her friend and went out to get some food.
I found her some chicken soup and a turkey sandwich which seemed to hit the spot. When they finally found her a bed the friend and I accompanied her to her room.
Later when the medical staff came in for a test the friend and I waited out in the hall. It was the first time we were together without Lois.

It was then that the friend told me Lois’s adult son passed away in Minnesota that afternoon. When the family couldn't reach Lois they had called her. The death was out of the blue. He had had a ski mobile accident months before and had been in rehab and seemed to be healing. Apparently a blood clot broke loose from somewhere and lodged in his heart.

We told the doctors who agreed not to tell her that night, but to wait until the next day when all the tests would be back.

When I arrived home that night I found in my mail a card my sister sent me.On the cover was a picture of a steaming cup of coffee.
The card read: “Good morning this is God. I will be handling all your problems today, I will not need your help…so have a good day. Love God.”

The next morning I took this card and some flowers to Lois. She hadn’t been told yet. Later on, when all her tests came back ok , they told her.
I believe God wanted her to be somewhere safe before she received the news.

How else do you explain my reconnecting with Lois when I did, The Jehovah Witness
man being urged to call on Lois, the mysterious pains that coincited with the son's death, the card with those uncanny words "from God."

God did take care of her that day and has since. As I share this Lois is visiting her family in Minnessota and when she returns I will pick her up at the airport.

Jenelle Pullin
Venice