I heard this story recently - I am not sure if it is true or not, but there is a lot of truth here..


A man became very ill and was rushed to the hospital. He had a temperature of nearly 107 degrees, and though his doctors and nurses tried everything they could to break that fever, it just wouldn't come down. They knew he couldn't survive for long in that condition.

During the middle of one fitful night, the sick man looked across the room and saw that he had a roommate. Even though he felt absolutely terrible, he realized he couldn't possibly feel as awful as this new fellow did. The man was very pale and had hollow, sunken eyes. He was obviously suffering a great deal and it seemed very likely the man would not survive the night.

For a brief instant, the first man forgot about his own problems and prayed. "Lord, I can't stand to see this fellow suffer like this. I've been asking You over and over to heal me. But now I tell You that I don't care what happens to me, but please help him."

After praying that prayer, he drifted off to sleep and, for the first time in a while, slept soundly for several hours. When he awoke, sunlight was streaming through the window, and he immediately noticed two things: One, he felt much better. Two, the other man was gone.

When the doctor came in on his rounds, he was surprised and delighted to see his patient doing so well. The fever had broken during the night, and the prognosis was excellent for a complete and speedy recovery.

"That's great," the man said, "but what about the other man who was in here last night? Did he…die?"

The doctor looked perplexed. "What man?" he asked. "Who else was in here last night?"

"The other patient."

"There's never been any patient in this room but you."

"But he was right over there." The man gestured in the direction of the person he had seen, but there was nothing there but a window.

It took them a while to figure out what had happened, but they finally came to the conclusion that during the night, the curtains on the window had remained open and somehow, the conditions were just right so that when the sick man looked at the window, he saw his own reflection. As he forgot about himself and reached out to help someone else, he actually brought God’s blessing into his own life.

The same is true for us. When we forget about our own hurts and needs and focus instead on healing the hurts and meeting the needs of others, we are often the one who is most blessed. That is why making amends is so important. Not only does it bless the one with whom we've had a problem, but it brings healing to us as well.