Faith

She communicates with a spell-board, using the index finger on her right hand. Although she is still badly affected by the resulting injuries, her heart toward God is an example of His Amazing Grace.

Before the accident, Linda always kept her hair short. And we kept it short after the accident. But one day, Linda expressed the desire for long hair. And it did grow very long. Linda LOVED her long hair.

She had certain CNAs who would French braid her hair or surprise her with a new hairdo. And Linda got all kinds of attention for that (which she ALSO loved). She would say, “Mari, take my picture!” And I would often answer with a joke like, “Do you want some cheese—with that HAM?!”

But after a while, because of the Arizona heat and ease-of-care issues, our mother (who was her legal guardian) explained to her that it would be better and more comfortable for her to have her hair short. Mom began, over time (and in vain), to try to convince Linda of that. But Linda still chose to keep her long hair.

When Linda has any issue stirring in her heart, she will often repeat it in every visit until it is resolved in her mind. On one of my routine visits with her, she began to say that she wished she had “...something” she “could do for God.”

And I responded, as I had many times before, that God is using her in that nursing home. She is a light in a dark place to elderly people who often don’t receive visits at all. And I told her that God uses her to pray for everyone there. That is her “ministry.” But, undaunted by my words of comfort (and truth), she repeated the same thing again and again in subsequent visits.

When she’d said it for the third visit in a row, I repeated everything that I had told her before. Then I told her, “If God has something He wants you to do for Him, first He has to show you what He wants you to do, and then He has to give you the ability to do it. If He doesn’t do both of those things, then you are under no condemnation if you don’t do it.”

But this time, I reached for her hand and said, “Let’s pray.” She put her right hand in mine, and I prayed. I thanked God for Linda’s tender heart toward Him and for all He had done in her life.

I told Him that she is already such a strong Christian witness for Him, but that she wanted “something she could do” for Him. I asked Him that if He had anything she could do for Him, would He please show her what to do and give her the ability to do it.

Sometime very shortly after we had prayed, I went to visit again. And Linda’s hair was SHORT! I said, “Linda! You CUT your HAIR?! Mom’s been trying to convince you for so long! I thought you wanted it long! Did you change your mind?!”

Linda was SO excited! And she said, “I GAVE it to the kids with CANCER!”

And I said, “What?!!” Between what Linda told me and a couple of other sources at the nursing home, I am sure that I managed to piece together the details of what happened:

When she is in her room, Linda always watches nothing but the Christian television channel. But she will make exceptions at times if there is a baseball or a basketball game on. She loves the Diamondbacks and Suns. Apparently, there had been a game on television the night before. Linda must have fallen asleep with a secular channel on (which she had done several times before).

But as soon as she woke up in the morning, she would insist that the channel be changed back to the Christian television station. So the mystery is… WHY, on this day, didn’t she have someone change the channel back first thing in the morning?!

But stay tuned… because “God works in mysterious ways…”

The beautician passed by Linda’s room in the morning and popped in to say hi to her. Then she asked Linda if she wanted her hair cut (though in Linda’s case, she’d only meant a trim, because she already knew that Linda wanted to keep her hair long). Of course, Linda said no.

Linda told me that after she told the beautician that she didn’t want her hair cut, a story came on (that secular channel) about children with cancer. They were highlighting a program called “Locks of Love.”

The news story told about how people with long hair donated it to make wigs for children with cancer. Linda rang the bell and told an aide that she DID want her hair cut and that she wanted to donate it to the children with cancer.

The nursing home did mail Linda’s “Locks of Love” (with a letter telling them all about Linda). Is it ANY wonder that I nicknamed her “Sweet Girl” years ago?!

After I heard what happened, I said, “LINDA! God answered our prayer! He showed you what to do, and He gave you the ability to DO it! Remember?! I told you!! ‘If He has something He wants you to do, He has to show you what to do, and then He has to give you the ability to do it!’”

He DID it! He answered us! He gave you “...something you could do for God!”

Written with love for “Sweet Girl,”
by Mari Morris

Epilogue:

Linda passed away in that nursing home after more than 28 years, in Dec 2019.
She is now casting crowns at the feet of our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.