The Sticky Ones

There are some Bible verses that just stick with me. Maybe not the exact wording but the thought or meaning behind them. Here is a random list of them....

1. The Shortest.
John 11:35 Jesus wept.

This has always been a powerful statement to me. Jesus wept. He felt the sorrow of His friends. He was there in the middle of their pain at that moment. He wasn't too tough. He wasn't sitting on His high mountain saying, "Silly people, watch what I'm going to do." No, He wept with them.

2. The Most Poetic.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines into the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

I just love the beautiful language and imagery here. He is the light. He is life. He is creator. He is everything.

3. The Funny One.
Acts 12:13-14 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

I love how she was so surprised that she forgot to open the door to let him in! Cracks me up! I love how this detail was kept in the scripture. It is so real-life, don't you think?

4. The One that Haunts Me.
Matthew 13:58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

This one scares me because it shows the importance of faith. If we don't have enough faith, how can we expect for God to do miracles in our lives?

5. The Ultimate Example
Philippians 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death---even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

He really is the PERFECT example of humility. He had everything, and He gave it up to love us to Him. If I am ever needing an example of how to act, I need to remember to come to these verses.

6. The One that a Puppet Taught Me.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

A dog puppet seriously taught me that verse. I can still picture him on the stage at youth camp. He kept messing up the words of the verse so that the leader would have to correct him. (Children's Ministry works, y'all! What a wonderful verse to plant in the hearts and minds of little kids!)

7. The One Full of Conviction
James 3:9-10
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praising and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Brothers and sisters, this should not be. And yet it is. A lot. In my life. I have a love/hate relationship with the book of James. It is my favorite, yet I really, really don't like it at times!

8. The Encouraging One
Isaiah 42:6 "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

I just love the thought of God reaching out to take my hand. I also love that He has called me to be a blessing to others. That is ministry in a nutshell...

Puzzling...

So I've decided that nursing school is a little bit like this...
You are given 2000 pieces to a puzzle.
They don't seem to match up to each other.
You have know idea what the big picture is going to look like.
You definitely don't have a diagram on the front of the box.
Sometimes you get a little corner of knowledge going.
A few things start to match together and make a little sense.
When that happens it is really exciting!
And then you are thrown 2000 more pieces and told to add them in!

The Quiet One

Dear Patient,
I know you couldn't speak to me, to tell me how you feel.
You couldn't hold a pencil to circle the smiley or frowny face to let me know you are hurting.
I know you probably couldn't understand my fancy language, or even hear my voice.
But, I held your hand anyway, because I wanted to be there for you.
In what little way I can.

34

I turn 35 in a week and two days. Yikes! All I can think is that it is halfway to 70. I did hear someone say the other day that they look forward to being old so that they can say whatever they want and people find it amusing/endearing instead of annoying. I guess that is kind of true. I find the elderly very endearing and often amusing....

Why be black and white?

Check out this amazingly beautiful wedding! I love the colors!

Tough Enough

For good reason, you are not supposed to use social media to talk about your patients that you work with in nursing school or as a nurse. Of course, there are many ethical reasons for not blasting your patient's identity, condition, and other things that are private all over the internet. It is just wrong. With that in mind, I'd like to tell you a little about my day.

I rose at 4:30 to make sure I made it to the hospital early for my clinical rotation. I like to get there early, take deep breaths, and remind myself that God is going to use me if I am willing. (And, of course, remind myself not to freak out at this new, totally fish-out-of-water experience they call "clinical".) From there, I went on to help out a non-descript, genderless, who knows what age person while he/she was in the hospital for some important non-specific health reasons. In taking care of this person, I saw some thing in him/her that might have reminded me of someone that I might know or be related to. It made the experience more real, a little like I was serving the person that I know instead of this virtual stranger.

Fast forward to this evening when I was typing up my care plan. (A care plan is a report that nursing students make on their patient that they served. It goes into detail about their diet, vital signs, medications, health history, etc. It is typically a 18-20 page paper that is due once a week.) So, I'm typing about this non-specific, who-knows-who-it-is person, and I'm fighting tears. I'm thinking about their life, their family, their situation. I'm thinking of how they made choices about their health (informed or uninformed) that may have brought them to this place. I'm thinking about the people in my life that remind me of this person. And, all I want to do is cry.
Then, I remind myself that I want to go into pediatrics: the saddest place on earth for a lot of kids. By this time, I'm exhausted from the long, stressful day. I'm sure that does not help with the tears. But, the burning, $4 million dollar question is: AM I TOUGH ENOUGH TO DO THIS? And that is where I sit, wondering.