One of the biggest transitions in life is retirement. Many people look forward to "taking it easy;" others would like to keep working but cannot because of health or other issues.

Doris Mallard, RN, Helen Meyer, RN,and Vera Miller,LVN,of Payson,Arizona,are retired nurses who have found a new excitement in their golden years. With the encouragement of Judy Hunt,MD,and Steve Ressler,MD,they attended the February 2000 METS conference in Southern California and learned to share their faith with patients.

Helen Meyer says,"I’m 72 years old,and in my day, people didn’t talk about the Lord. It wasn’t brought into the patient’s plan of care.We forgot about the patient’s spirit and soul." Now the three adventurous women were off to learn how to share their faith in their golden years.

Before they left for the conference,all three nurses admitted to having little confidence that they could master the concepts and actually learn to witness to patients in a hospital or convalescent home. After career of service in the nursing field and meeting patients’ physical needs,they felt as if they weren’t as useful anymore.Yet attending a conference with so many highly educated people was intimidating to them. Vera Miller explains, "The conference was going to be for practicing medical professionals. How can we learn from them?"

The three prayed together before they left for California because they didn’t know what would happen at the conference.They asked God to enable them to learn what He wanted them to know.

And they did learn.Helen Meyer explains how her experience enriched her faith,"It ’s like stepping stones. The farther you go along,it seems like the closer the stepping stones are together.It ’s path God leads you on. [Learning to share my faith] has given me a freedom to step out and respond to so many things for many people."

The women found the seminar sessions open and friendly. Doris Mallard says, "It was the most uplifting weekend I ’ve spent in so long.The doctors took time to share the Lord with their patients in an ethical and caring manner and taught us how to do that too." Part of the training involved visiting patients with experienced workers.The night before they went out, the three nurses were anxious about the hands-on training.They each prayed individually and relied on each other for moral support.

They each were assigned to different teams visiting patients in a convalescent home.

Vera was very moved by her visit and described what it meant to her. "The weekend really empowered me.I always wanted to witness before I went to METS and I always felt it was my responsibility. But somehow I was always shy about barging into patients’ lives. Since the METS conference, I now go to the hospital and pray with people and am able to sensitively share the gospel with them."

After the conference,two of the women, Doris and Helen, developed serious health problems. They both feel that their recent hospital experiences not only drew them closer to the Lord,but also enable them to connect with patients in a deeper way.

The three women play a supporting role in visiting patients.They make themselves available to Drs. Hunt and Ressler to help fill the needs of patients. The retired nurses are informed of a patient need by telephone call. Then they call the patient to introduce themselves and receive permission to visit. Sometimes the patient is at home, needs transportation,is still in the hospital, or may even have some other need that the women can help meet.

All three women have found many ways to minister to different types of patients. Doris feels she has a gift for working with older women. Helen ministered to woman who was not a patient but had brought her granddaughter into the clinic. Her concern for her granddaughter opened a way for Helen to discuss spiritual issues with her.Vera walks in her mobile-home park and stops in to visit people who need spiritual encouragement.

Wanda was a patient all three women got to know. She is close to 80, and the doctors were afraid she wouldn’t live through the night. Wanda had a Christian nurse named Susan who returned after her shift to be with Wanda during a blood transfusion. This kindness impressed Wanda so much that it opened the way for Helen to befriend her. By Easter,Wanda was visiting the church that all three women attend,and on Easter Sunday,she indicated that she had received Christ as her Savior.

Vera saw remarkable changes in the life of another woman who had a flippant attitude about God, addressing Him as the "man upstairs." By the time this woman moved out of Payson because of ill health,not only did she talk about God in a more intimate way,but she had also reconciled with her sister and her son.

If you ask any of the three Payson Golden Girls what the METS conference means to her, she will explain how it transformed her ministry. Vera relates with tears in her voice, "It makes me cry that God can use me. A whole new ministry opened up for me. I feel more confident now. The training has enabled me." As the Golden Girls have discovered, serving God is the right thing to do at any age.