To Be Established

William E. Mellick Jr. 

In February, 2004, as my wife Judy and I were coming home from a family gathering, we decided to stop at a grocery store and shop for supper.  It was around 2:00 p.m. when we came out through one set of automatic doors into the breezeway waiting to go through the second set to exit into the parking lot.  A lady could not make her mind whether to go ahead of us or to wait until we went through.  Judy went first, the lady and her grocery cart went second, then I followed up with our groceries out the second set of doors.

As Judy went out, the lady followed her, and she made a funny sound.  She pushed her cart into the street, twirled and fainted.  Hitting her head on the set of glass and steel double doors, she cut deep into the corner of her eye next to her nose; she was having an epileptic seizure.  Lying face down, I saw blood pooling on the ground while she was shaking violently.  A crowd was gathering, and I told Judy to call 911.  I ran over and put my hands under her head so she would not hit her head on the concrete; I told her I would not leave her, and help was on the way.

A doctor passing by us eased into the scene and told me to take her inside because it was cold where she was lying.  I told him that I saw her hit her head and that she could have a neck injury.  While he agreed with me, the manager and others put coats and a tarp over her to keep her warm.  The doctor then told me to keep pressure on her wound to help stop the bleeding.  I was already doing that.  I could tell that this doctor was afraid of a malpractice suit, and equally afraid to walk off because of his medical conscience, so the only thing he would do is give medical orders and have someone else to do them.

The crowd was growing larger.  My wife was very shaken and began praying in the Holy Ghost.  A black lady stretched forth her hands on the other side of the double-glass doors and was praying, too.  I was on the other side, on my hands and knees holding this lady and praying in the Holy Ghost also.

The fire department was on the way and two nurses were now on the scene, delaying their shopping to help this seizure victim.  As the nurses took over, I stood up and saw a very petite lady standing next to me.  She had blondish hair, and an olive-green coat on.  She was smiling, and she patted me on my back on three occasions.  She never spoke a word to me, but I felt as if she was saying everything was going to be all right. 

With the fire department parked in front of us and the nurses taking over, I asked them if they needed anything else from me.  With nothing else I could do, I was released by the paramedics as they thanked me for helping this person.  Judy and I picked up our groceries and went back to the truck to go home.  We began crying and talking about what had happened to us.  We were both puzzled about the doctor not wanting to get personally involved.  Then Jesus started telling me what this lady was sent this day for.

As Pastor John Clark had said in a meeting in North Carolina a few months before, when God says something twice in the Bible, He means it, and is confirming what He has said.  And God was showing me through this second epileptic that what He did for me in August of 2001, when I helped another epileptic who had a seizure where I worked, was no accident and that He meant what He was at that time telling me!  And I humbled myself and believed Him.

As for the little petite lady with the green coat, I don’t know if she was an angel or not, but I got the message God sent through her.  She was telling me everything is OK and on schedule, not to worry or doubt about anything God is doing in my life; He is still taking good care of His people and me.  He is perfect and what He does is perfect.  He was showing me that just as the epileptic was going to be just fine, I was going to be just fine.  I felt God also let me know that Judy was with me that second time so that she could witness what I had gone through the first time, and to let her know what Jesus was saying to me was true.  People go without experiencing dealing with an epileptic their whole life, but I had been through two first-hand situations!  God knows how to get His point across.

Sometime after that experience, the Lord gave me a dream about the mysterious lady who was beside Judy and me as the crowd gathered on that frosty afternoon with the epileptic at the grocery store.  In the dream, I heard a group of people sing the tune to a James Taylor song, “Shower The People With Love”, but the words were changed to Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to your own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and He shall establish (direct) thy paths.” 

That same petite lady with the green coat approached me in the dream and asked me with the same expression as she did at the grocery store, “Do you know what it means to be established?”  I started to quickly give her an answer because I thought I knew the answer.  But then, as I started to open my mouth to speak, I felt like I turned from a grown man to a small school boy, and I shook my head from side-to-side so as to silently convey to the petite lady, “no”.  Then the  smiling, happy, young woman spoke and said, “Well, let me tell you!  Jesus is the only one who knows the way, and to be established means that no one will be able to remove you from this path [as she pointed to the line we were standing on].”

After she spoke, I saw that the group of very happy and joyous singers, now locked arm-in-arm and swaying back and forth, started singing again the Proverb verses to the tune of the James Taylor song, Shower The People With Love.

As the group sang the song, I felt like I turned back into a grown man, and with the song ringing in my ears, I looked ahead and saw the path ahead of me continue until it disappeared, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.  The feelings from the song were breathtaking and joyful.  Smiling now, I started to walk the path Jesus had laid out for me, knowing that he is the only one who knows how to get us to the end of the path.

After waking from the dream, I searched and found the words to the James Taylor tune, or should I say, Proverbs 3:5–6. 

Shower the People with Love

James Taylor

You can play the game and you can act out the part 

Though you know it wasn't written for you 

But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart 

Ashamed of playing the fool

One thing can lead to another; it doesn't take any sacrifice 

Oh, father and mother, sister and brother 

If it feels nice, don't think twice 

Just shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna work out fine if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way you feel 

Things are gonna be much better if you only will 

You can run but you cannot hide 

This is widely known 

And what you plan to do with your foolish pride 

When you're all by yourself alone 

Once you tell somebody the way that you feel 

You can feel it beginning to ease 

I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel 

Always getting the grease. 

Better to shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna be just fine if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna be much better if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel