The Wind Blows Where It Wishes, May 9
Daily Reflections from Inside the Cancer Journey
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Written by Tom Corbell
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8 ESV).
In the normal visitation timeframe, a Hospice chaplain visits his/her patients once every two weeks. I was driving down Interstate 40 West going back to the office. All of a sudden I felt an incredible need to go see a patient I had seen less than a week before. I got off at the next exit and went to her home. Her daughter opened the door and started crying. She took me immediately to her mother’s bedroom, as she had declined in health in a matter of days.
I pulled a chair up to her bedside and asked what she would like me to do for her.
She asked me to read from the Holy Bible. I reached over and used her Bible. For the next forty-five minutes I read multiple passages that brought her peace. She died the next day.
I pray that my presence and actions served this family. I know the honor I felt in responding to the Spirit on this day rejuvenated my faith and my walk with the Lord.
For six years I served as a Hospice chaplain. They were the most fulfilling years of my ministry. I learned many lessons in that setting. One aspect of that ministry taught me that the Lord’s plan may not be my plan. My calendar said I did not need to go for this visit on that day, but the Spirit of the Lord had a different idea.
In today’s verse, Jesus tried to explain the mystery of the Spirit to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” You cannot control the Sprit’s work any more than you can nail jello to a tree!
Each day as a hospice chaplain I faced the reality that, as followers of Christ, we are eternal beings and God’s Spirit is within us. If the Holy Spirit inside us is strong enough to lift us to the throne room of God, surely He’s strong enough for us to feel His urging to do God’s will.
Listening to and even acting on the nudge of the Holy Spirit may sound ridiculous to you. Jesus knew that talking of the Spirit was hard for Nicodemus to grasp. This is why He said to Nicodemus, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12 NIV)
If you are walking with cancer, or walking with someone who has cancer, be open to the Holy Spirit’s nudging. Each morning, take your plans (or lack of plans) for that day and place them in Christ’s hands. Ask Him to open you to hear the whispers, nudging or shouts from the Spirit telling you to move. He may have a blessing, a lesson or an experience that will help you in the journey.
Pray: Lord, give me a hunger to hear the nudgings of Your Holy Spirit, and please keep me open to the Spirit as He is working in my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Your Turn: Hear the words of Pat Barrett in his song, “Hymn of the Holy Spirit”: “Holy Spirit, lead me onward, walking through the great unknown; trusting, leaning, holding, clinging, till the day You lead me home.”1 Open your heart and mind to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you daily in God's will for your life.
1. “Pat Barrett – Hymn of the Holy Spirit.” Genius. Accessed September 2, 2023. https://genius.com/Pat-barrett-hymn-of-the-holy-spirit-lyrics.
Tom Corbell, Hospice Pastor
Tom is a Lutheran pastor who has served Jesus in both North and South Carolina for forty-nine years. Six of those years he worked as a Hospice Chaplain, and he encountered cancer daily. The privilege of praying, working with and supporting cancer patients and their families is an honor.
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