Story of the Week June 4, 2009 Thank you, Cletus

Posted by admin

June 8, 2009

Over twenty years ago when Elizabeth Darby was a hospital nurse in San Angelo, Texas, she had to have back surgery. The surgery was a success and some time later Liz returned to work. “One day we got a patient who had to be transferred from a stretcher to the bed,” she says. “I went into the room to help, but the other nurses discouraged me.”

“You’ve had surgery—you don’t need to be doing any lifting,” one told her. The others agreed.

Liz has no idea where the impulse came from, but she suddenly gestured over her right shoulder with her thumb. “That’s okay,” she said, smiling. “Meet Cletus, my angel. He does all my heavy lifting.” Everyone laughed and let Liz help, and the patient was settled comfortably.

Liz had always believed in guardian angels, but she had never named hers, nor had she spoken to anyone about her beliefs. (Twenty years ago, angels were not as popular as they are now.) Why had she mentioned it? She had no answer, but as the days passed Liz began to notice something unusual. Whenever she was called upon to lift a heavy weight (usually a patient) she could do it easily. “Usually they were dead weight too, about 180 to 200 pounds,” she says. But the loads were no problem for her.

Had she suddenly developed amazing strength? That was the other unusual feature: Liz could lift easily ONLY at work. At home she had the usual difficulties. A forty-pound bag of salt for her water softener was a real challenge. This situation continued for over eighteen years, until Liz retired from nursing.

“Now, in another life, I am the owner of a religious gift shop, and although my weight-lifting limit is only 25 to 30 pounds I know I can still rely on Cletus when the need is there,” Liz says. “We are all so bleassed by God to have these amazing halpers with us to guard our steps, guide our decisions and just be our “best friends.”