God is moving in the midst of COVID-19

While the rest of the world is in various levels of quarantine, doctors and nurses are battling in the trenches for those struck down by COVID-19.

And in the midst of this, many are turning to God for help.

On March 29, 2020, a video was released on Twitter of New York nurses praying for divine healing for their patients and as well praying for people who she described as dying alone because of the quarantine.

One unidentified nurse prayed:

“Grant us favour as we seek your face oh God, no other face but the name of Jesus.”

In Nashville, TN, pictures surfaced on Facebook of nurses meeting on the helipad of Vanderbilt University Medical Center to pray for the people struck down by virus in their hospital and as well as their family members.

They also prayed for the medical staff at their hospital and those around the world who have been overwhelmed by the influx of new patients.

According to WKRN TV, a nurse posted on Facebook:

“We could feel God’s presence in the wind. Know that you are covered in prayer.”

This is very similar to what God told David when he inquired of the Lord as he faced a battle with the Philistines:

²⁴As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”
2 Samuel 5:24 NIV

God is moving on medical staff in the midst of this crisis. Another Facebook post told of how an Italian doctor, who called himself an atheist, found God in the midst of this crisis.

God TV reported on a Facebook post written by Jim McCarthy that spoke of how an Italian doctor, Julian Urban, 38, who works at a hospital in Lombardy, Italy, an area particularly hard hit by the virus, has turned to God during this pandemic.

The doctor, a self-proclaimed atheist, said his hospital was overwhelmed with patients sick from COVID-19. Italy is particularly hard hit, because it has the second highest number of people over the age of 65 in the world. The elderly along with people with underlying health conditions are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

In Italy, the elderly often live in multiple generational homes and are easily infected by those working outside the home.

The doctor said, “never in my darkest nightmares did I imagine that I would see and experience what was going on in hospitals the past three weeks” as a trickle of patients turned into a flood.

He said medical personnel are sorting patients deciding who should live and who would die. But in the midst of this God is moving.

Dr. Julian wrote:

“Until two weeks ago, my colleagues and I were atheists. It was normal because we are doctors. We learned that science excludes the presence of God.”

But that all changed with the arrival of a pastor, 75, who had come down with the virus.

Though sick himself, with Bible in hand, the pastor would sit, holding the hands of other patients many of them who were dying, and pray and read to them.

The doctors in the hospital who were, exhausted, discouraged and frustrated by all that was happening and needing encouragement themselves would listen as he read to the patients.

This doctor, who hadn’t been home for six days, said as a result of this pastor, he and fellow doctors have been praying for peace and strength in the midst of this very difficult time.

“When we talk to each other, we cannot believe that, though we were once fierce atheists, we are now daily in search of peace, asking the Lord to help us continue so that we can take care of the sick.”

The pastor, who eventually died of COVID-19, brought hope in the midst of a storm.

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