For such a time as this...

Sunday I felt sort of like Queen Esther. A situation came up with the oddest sequence of circumstances, and I realized anew how God uses the most implausible events in our lives.

Did you read the blog from two weeks ago, about the nursing home resident for whom 'S' prayed? He said he regained some of his hearing. So I was eager to see him again and find out how he was. At the end of the service I rushed over to him and said,
"Hi, 'H', how are you doing?"
I was distressed to find out that I couldn't understand a word he said. He spoke on and on, and it was just gibberish. I was afraid that he had had a stroke, yet it seemed too effortless for that to be the case. Eventually I had a suspicion, and I interrupted him to say:
"'H', are you speaking English?"
"No," He replied, "I'm speaking Russian"
"Speak English"
"You don't speak Russian?"
"No."
"Not at all?" He was clearly disappointed.
"Well, I know one sentence." I responded.
"Speak to me, speak to me!" He cried out.
(My one sentence was taught to me 22 years ago by a former co-worker from Kiev. I'm sure my pronunciation was bad, and I don't have the slightest clue how to spell it).
"Yahachu da moy" I attempted.
'H' roared with laughter and repeated "Yahachu da moy".
"Do you know what I said?" I questioned.
"You said - 'I want to go home!'" He exclaimed with glee. Then he turned suddenly serious and said, "I have prayed to God for years that he would send me someone who would speak Russian to me, and today you have come".
It wasn't until I was leaving that I noticed that one of the aides was Russian, and he was probably confusing me with her. But that wasn't the important thing.
I suddenly realized that if he was able to understand me parroting a sentence of Russian that I learned phonetically 22 years ago, he really could hear.