I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?
~Mother Teresa~
Only two days of work remain before I begin my new journey as a World Race squad leader.
A few people have communicated that I must be thrilled to get to quit my job and travel again, and while I am certainly beyond excited to lead Y squad, I feel a desperate need to communicate with you all my passion for my calling to care for the sick.
Few jobs offer the opportunity to step into a place of service and selflessness the way being a nurse does.
~Pinterest Photo~
Being a nurse is one of the few precious things that describes the core of what makes me truly me…Christ-follower, daughter, sister, nurse…as opposed to “likes to read, watch football, eat comfort food…oh and is a nurse.” Any nurse with a similar calling or sentiment knows exactly what I am talking about.
Mistake me not; there is nothing easy or low-stress about what I do. Quite honestly, I have seen my ugliest side come out at work, and never is the urge to complain stronger than on a really tough day as a cardiac nurse.
A fairly accurate picture of my day at any given moment looks something like this: in the span of 10 minutes, my phone will ring telling me that one patient is having a sudden onset of chest pain, another patient is suddenly vomiting blood, another patient is pacing the halls waiting to be discharged, and another patient is trying to climb out of bed while in restraints. All at once, I am expected to manage all of these things.
My fellow nurses who are reading this are nodding their heads and muttering “yep” under their breath at this all-too-common scene. Your head swims with all that needs to be done, and all you can do is hope and pray that no one patient feels neglected, that you don’t make any grievous errors, and that your documentation reflects your efforts.
~Nursing in Nicaragua, March 2012~
We are the liaison between the patient and the doctors, lab, radiology department, ancillary departments, operating room, and case managers. We are the voice behind the scenes when patients do not have a voice themselves, and advocate for physical, mental, and spiritual needs even after discharge.
Our minds are a revolving door for an ever-growing task list: this patient needs a dressing change, that patient needs diabetes education; this patient needs a blood transfusion, that patient needs tube feedings started; this patient needs to be transferred to the ICU, that patient needs to be discharged before your new patient arrives from the Emergency Department.
And amidst the beeping IV’s and screeching bed alarms, the pools of blood and puddles of vomit, the festering wounds and the chronic pain management, we nurses regularly spend 12-14 straight hours putting ourselves aside and laying gentle hands on those in desperate need of care.
Beyond the logistics, the concept of “care” for these people changes with each situation and patient. We may be celebrating in one room as a patient is discharged sooner than expected, and offering condolences in the next to a family with a sooner-than-expected death.
Krista’s sister surprised us with cupcakes at the nurses desk one day recently! Sweets are the way to a nurse’s heart.
We bite our tongues and apologize when a patient criticizes our unavoidable delay in bringing pain medicines, and look past it when a confused patient throws a bedpan full of stool at us.
We wash the feet of the homeless heroin addicts, wipe the tears of the forgotten grandmothers, and hold the hands of elderly patients attempting to walk in the hall.
We take popsicles to the visiting grandkids, call the doctor (again) for the frightened spouses, and reassure the confused Alzheimer’s patients.
A little while ago, I was rubbing lotion on an emaciated young man that would soon pass from AIDS, my fingers catching in the spaces in between his ribs as he fought for each breath.
In a flash moment, I swear I saw Jesus laying in front of me. I froze, suddenly taken aback that God placed me with this dying young person that He dearly loved, completely alone at the end of a life that may look differently if he could re-live it.
I thought of Mother Theresa and those like her whose names we will never know, and was reminded that I am truly honored that God commissioned me to do this.
~Pinterest photo~
I certainly get frustrated with the often unmanageable pile of work, and I do not know of anyone outside of nursing (except perhaps a few inner city school teachers) that has dissolved into full-blown, stress-induced sobs while at their work place, as most nurses do at some point.
But beyond all of that, I try to see my hands as if they belonged to Jesus Himself as I lay them on my patients and give them whatever they need. If ever a profession was also a “ministry”, nursing is it.
I say all of this not to talk myself or fellow nurses up, but to hopefully create a picture of why, for me, nothing will ever really take the place of caring for the sick in one form or another.
Equally deep is my passion for missions, and one of my greatest excitements in the coming years is to watch how God continually merges these two callings He has placed on my life for Him.
~Pinterest photo~
My squad will certainly be in need of physical, emotional, and spiritual intercession from me on a daily basis, and I will use the skills God has given me as a nurse to advocate for them as well as I can.
And to my fellow nurses, healthcare workers, close friends who are nurses, and especially my 7 tower team…remember why you do what you do, and if you are a Christ-follower, rest in the knowledge that God Almighty has entrusted you with a very rewarding, albeit challenging, job.
God bless you all and I certainly hope to be back on the hospital nursing scene soon.
I am still in need of about $3200 in my support account to complete the journey as a World Race squad leader. If any of you were praying about giving, you can do so by clicking on “support me” in the upper left corner.
