O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
Psalm 139:1-18
I truly remember “feeling” God for the first time when my dear friend, Elizabeth, died on Mackinac Island. Liz and I were working on the Island after our Freshman year in college. We had been best of friends at Marian High School. We went to different colleges and were looking forward to spending the summer together. The Detroit Pistons were in the Championship, it was June of 1990 , and Liz and I and some other friends were meeting to watch the big game. Liz never made it. She was in a bike accident coming down the Grand Hotel hill and died right outside Little Stone Church. She was flown to Traverse City and then to the University of Michigan where her organs were donated, such a generous and giving gesture by her parents.
I will never forget as we were walking out of Holy Name Church for her funeral how her grieving father said to me, “God needed Elizabeth more than we did.” Think about that, she was 19. Her dad felt that and said it out loud leaving the church. What faith. That is when I KNEW she was with God and he was beside me.
I stayed on the Island that summer and enjoyed and experienced life to the absolute fullest, a gift I always give credit to Liz. And then God showed me his power again.
I returned to U of M to start my second year in the nursing program there.
I was assigned for my first Fall clinical on a transplant floor at the University Hospital. I was in shift change report with my fellow classmates when I heard “ there is a man here who received his heart back in June but has a slight fever so is here for observation. He received his heart from a girl who died on Mackinac Island.”
What? I couldn't believe it.
I immediately went to my instructor, told her my relationship with Liz and she received permission for me to meet to him. I walked into his room and said, “I think you have my friends heart.” He replied, “ Elizabeth’s?” My heart skipped a beat.
What are the chances, the odds, the possibilities? I met the man who received my dear friends heart. He and I stayed in touch for a few years but then lost touch when I graduated from nursing school.
This is a story I have told over and over. I get chills and tears every time I retell it.
I learned at 18 years old, and I still believe with all my heart, that God is with us, even when we don't think so.
He is, he always is.
Julie Kunz
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