I am a registered nurse.
I nurse in Internal Medicine – a step-down ICU (Intensive Care Unit) involving complex medical cases having to do with organ complication, damage and failure, as well as medical mysteries that we try to solve.
I am honored to help people in their desperation for improved health, for lengthened prognosis', for more time, for hope. I am honored to see people in moments of intense vulnerability, hear their concerns in the middle of a night shift, walk families through crisis, questions, more days and final days.
I am educated in medicine. But my faith is in God. If you asked my Mom about this, she would tell you she wished she named me "Alana Faith". If you asked me about it, I would tell you I feel this to be a contradiction.
God is: love, the beginning and the end, able to do the impossible, all-knowing, all-powerful, purposeful, compassionate, just, holy, right, a provider, and he cares.
Medicine is: constantly evolving and growing, trends, statistics, research, tests, medication, a prognosis, a well-educated guess.
Picture this: Think of the best dad in the world. Picture him in his role as a new father, watching his baby wide-eyed in fascination of all there is to learn. Picture that father loving the way his baby is learning to walk, to talk, to think, to relate to people, watching his baby learn and grow. Can you see how he loves his child's curiosity? In the same way, God loves us, in our role as learners and discoverers. I believe that God created us to be able to function at a high mental capacity, that God knew medicine would be invented, I think He is okay with this. After all, God called me to be a nurse.
Here's the thing: Is our faith in medicine or in miracles? Where is the line between the two? Or can they be the same thing? I know in my heart that God can heal, because I have witnessed it among my family, and in myself (see my blog post "My Spine").
I mention this here, in my World Race blog, because this is one of the many questions I am entering the World Race with. It feels like an internal struggle – when I allow my mind to wander, and I think how BIG God is, that He is ABLE to do ANYTHING, it's then that my doubts and realism-tendencies tend to reel my faith back in. It's a mix between excitement of the unknown and fear that the unknown I hope for doesn't exist. We shall see….
