When Dan Scott’s wife, Trish, was rushed to the hospital, he prepared for the worst. And when doctors informed him of their prognosis, he became even more distraught. Trish had suffered a brain aneurysm and was in a coma. Several days later, doctors informed Dan that Trish had experienced a stroke that would leave her partially paralyzed. Life was looking grim.
According to the Tennesseean, Dan spent day and night by his wife’s side at the hospital, only leaving briefly to take walks around the hospital.
During one of his walks, he encountered Genevieve Ruiz, a Mexican member of the cleaning staff. Since he had participated in mission work in Honduras, he said hello in Spanish. Ruiz was taken aback, and asked him why he had spoke to her. He explained that he was a Spanish speaker and just wanted to be polite.
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At that point, Ruiz inquired as to why he was heading towards the ICU with such sadness. He informed her of Trish’s situation and exclaimed that his wife was going to die.
“No, she’s not,” Ruiz said matter-of-factly.
Dan asked her how she knew and she replied simply, “I know.”
“Stop grieving. She’s going to walk out of there. She’s going to be Okay,” Ruiz told him.
Dan wasn’t sure how or why, but for some reason he believed what she was saying. Once Ruiz spoke to him he believed that his wife would be okay, that she would walk out of the hospital.
“I know there are a lot of false claims and insanity in religion,” Dan explained. “But something in her made me think she’s right.”
And right she was. Six days later, Trish came out of her coma and a year later she had made a full recovery.
Dan strongly believes that on that day, when he was so down and helpless, God spoke to him. Through Ruiz, God spoke to him.
“Mostly God’s work happens away from church. Genevieve helped me with that. She pushes a mop. She’s not even a doctor, but she was a gracious human being who wasn’t just working the clock,” he said. “She was every bit the servant of God that I was.”
He knows that running into Ruiz and greeting her in Spanish wasn’t a chance happening. And as outlandish as her words seemed at the time, he knew he just needed to believe.
“Something in me just believed that,” he said. “That’s the voice I needed that day.”
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