God Listens to Those
Who've Turned Away, Too

had gone to Catholic school, my parents had taught me the ways of faith, and I was an active member of our parish. When I hit my early teens, though, I was all of a sudden "too cool" for God, whom I felt I didn't need any longer. For six years, I all but forgot about the Lord.

Then when I was 21, my friend Alicia, who was like a sister to me, was injured in a horrible car crash.

I made the one-hour drive to the hospital and greeted the family and friends in the waiting room. As Alicia's dad emerged from her room, face dripping with tears, I decided to go in.

Alicia, badly bruised and swollen, was lying in a coma. Machines were breathing for her, and only a jagged line running across a beeping screen reassured me that her 17-year-old heart was still beating. I could only cry. I was scared and mad and full of pain.

I recall sitting on the hospital steps, thinking of possible outcomes. As the priest from our church arrived to offer comfort and prayers for Alicia and her family, he stopped and talked a few moments with me before walking away.

Only then did I realize that I felt a little better for having spoken with him. It was just small talk, but I was filled with a much-needed warmth. This priest had reminded me of God.

Would God listen to me? I'd turned my back on God years ago, so what would God want with me now? I talked myself out of a prayer and went back into the hospital. Inside, the situation was unchanged.

What do I have to lose? I asked myself. I figured I'd take a shot at prayer. Finding a quiet spot just outside the waiting room, I gazed out the window and blessed myself nervously. I began to pray.

I apologized for having left God behind, and I truly meant it. I cried and asked for God's guiding hand to lead me gently in this situation. As I closed my prayer, I thanked the Lord for listening. Wiping tears away, I walked back into the waiting room. I said goodbye to family and friends and drove home in a daze. On the way, I thought about what I had done and decided that I felt good about my choice. After all those years, I still believed in God!

The next morning, my mother, who had spent the night at the hospital, called me. Alicia's fever had subsided, she told me, and my friend now had a good shot at survival. I trembled as I hung up the phone. I thanked the Lord, who had come through for me and for Alicia and her family and friends.

That was about one year ago. I saw Alicia graduate from high school this year, and though she is still in a wheelchair, she continues to grow strong. What a blessing it is to have her with us.

As for myself, I learned something I had been told for years: God will not turn from you though you may have turned from God. I now realize this with blazing clarity! All along, God had simply been waiting for me to come back.