Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Finished: Completed, or ended or destroyed (10/23/25)
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TITLE: A Divine Intervention | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
10/30/25 -
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A light tap on the door brought her attention back to the starkness of the hospital room.
She almost didn’t recognize him. His hair was grayer, and deep wrinkles and lines proved he was not so young or handsome anymore.
All she could whisper was, “Oh, my! Uh…”
Sounding more like an embarrassed teenager than a man of a certain age, he finally managed to respond.
“Hello, Lydia. I didn’t figure you would know me.”
She pressed the button to raise the head of the bed a little so she could get a good look.
Her surprise was genuinely unpretentious.
“Reggie? How? Why?”
“I ran into your brother back home, and he told me you were very ill. Something I can’t explain seemed to propel me to travel all night to get here before, uh, you know.”
Her sudden bluntness made him uneasy.
“You mean before I leave the earth for good?”
Reggie swallowed hard and studied his shoes for a full minute.
“May I sit down, Lydia?”
“Of course, I’m sorry. It’s just been so many years, I’m a bit shocked. Why are you really here?”
Confusion filled his eyes as he stammered, trying to get a foothold on the uncomfortable conversation.
“I realize we’ve been divorced more years than we were married, but so much was left unresolved.”
Memories of the gut-wrenching hurt she had felt for so long tried to circle back to stab her, but she was resolute in not accepting that evil attempt. She held up her hand to stop him.
“Wait, Reggie! I’ve had over twenty years to revisit any part I played in not supporting you or recognizing you needed help. I was so blind! God has nudged me to consider my anemic contribution in keeping our marriage strong in sickness and in health. I am the one who needs your forgiveness!”
Reggie took her hand and tears fell unchecked on their faces.
After a few minutes of profound silence, he made another awkward attempt to learn the depth of her illness. At that moment, several humans in white lab coats barreled through the door as if chased by a hungry lion.
The head of the medical bunch headed straight for the bed with his stethoscope in hand. After a ten-second check, he gave her the anesthesiology spiel about nothing to drink after midnight and how bright and early tomorrow the cardiac surgical team would get busy and fix her as good as new.
With that quick requirement out of the way, the herd of promising young physicians exited quietly behind their no-nonsense leader.
Reggie seemed to wobble helplessly as if a speeding reality train had rudely derailed him.
“Lydia! I assumed you had a terminal disease.”
“I do, Reginald. It’s my very sick heart!”
“What’s wrong with it, Liddy?”
“Well, simply put, you could say it’s seriously broken. I’ve prayed for the Lord to fix it, so maybe this is the way.”
Suddenly, the man who had been her husband for so many good years before the bad ones took them down, wrapped his still strong arms around her frail, depleted body, and began to pray for God’s will.
He stayed by her side all night after a nurse had asked if he was a family member.
His answer had been honest yet evasive.
“Well, we have the same last name, so I’d say we are related.”
Hours later, after Lydia had been transported to surgery, Reggie was drinking coffee in the cafeteria when his phone rang. Her nurse told him he needed to get back upstairs ASAP.
He made a beeline for the elevator and practically skidded into the room with the bed by the window.
There sat the woman he had once promised to love, crying and singing praises to the Lord.
“LYDIA! What happened?”
“They did some high-tech pre-op tests that showed those documented fatal problems have mysteriously disappeared.
Reggie was so stunned he couldn’t speak as he hugged this grandmotherly person who used to be the beautiful bride of his youth.
Prayers were answered. Broken hearts were fixed. This was not the right time for an ending. Now, it was the season to let go of the past and proceed with a new beginning.
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1 Corinthians 13:5-7 NLT
Love…does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
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