Many nurses tell you they wanted to be one for as long as they can remember. My mom is a nurse, and I honestly wasn’t interested. I knew it was hard work physically, mentally, and emotionally. The one thing I knew for sure was that I loved interacting with people and helping in any way.
I went on my first medical mission trip the summer of my senior year in high school, and I saw a tangible way to show God’s love to people. I began to pray for God to show me His desires for my future career. I had basically a “duh” moment: I had a dream that confirmed He wanted me to be a nurse for Him both here and afar.
I currently work in Same Day Surgery and absolutely love it. I love reassuring nervous patients, caring for them while waking up, and teaching about their post surgical and new diagnosis care. I love when I get the opportunity to pray with patients or make them laugh. God has opened doors for me to care for people all the way in Haiti to Nashville, to Springfield. Since Covid, things have been interesting with surgical cases cancelled at times and hospitals in disaster mode. We have been floated all over to help the nurses working day in and day out in the Covid units on top of our normal shifts.
The best piece of advice I can give any caregiver or nurse is to take care of yourself even though it isn’t in your nature to do so. Take time to recoup, pray, exercise, and find joy. Our patients need us to be at our best to keep them at theirs.
Lastly, I just want to ask everyone to pray for our nation; we have so much division, mistrust, misinformation, and heartache all around. If you love a nurse, pray for our patients, families, and us too.
