Story of A Nurse

Late one December night on the cancer ward, the halls were quiet and solemn, the patients were asleep and most of the visitors were gone. The nurses were gathered about the nurse’s station preparing for shift change. Sarah, one of the nurses, was especially tired, having worked seven straight 12 hour days. The kids had needs, her husband had been laid off, and the house payment was due.

What kept her going was that in January she was going to find a new job. After ten years of answering call lights, working short staffed, putting up with constant administrative changes, she had decided that it was not worth the effort anymore.

PING. PING. PING. Sara angrily looked at the call light box, “Good grief!” The patient was a seventy-year-old woman. Sarah had been to her room at the end of the hall at least fifteen times. Angrily she started down the hall.

On her way, she suddenly stopped. She stood motionless as a soft voice wafted out of room 235.

“And then one day I’ll cross the river; I’ll fight life’s final war with pain; And then as death gives way to victory, I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she listened and thought about the young woman in that room — a thirty-five year old mother of two with cancer, with only a week to live, perhaps days. Sarah stood there, with tears in her eyes, remembering how this young terminal woman had such peace.

The patient would speak to everyone who came into her room and she would smile even in her pain and took the time to share her faith and let people know the reason for her peace was a faith in God. All the nurses who had been around her commented on her strength and how they had felt peace and calm after talking with this exceptional young woman..

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know who holds the future, Life is worth all the living, just because He lives.”

Unstoppable tears flowed as Sarah stood a few moments more, but the tears had taken on a newness. No longer were they tears of sadness for this young woman but tears of renewal that washed away the disappointment and disillusionment of her job, and the fear about the future.

Sarah started down the hall to answer the call light, but she was no longer going to check on some pestering old woman. She was going to the room of a patient, a person, a fellow human in need. Sarah no longer looked to January so she could quit — she looked to her next shift when she would again have the opportunity to serve her fellow man. Sarah left work with a new outlook on life. She had a rekindling of the spirit of service that had motivated her to become a nurse. Those fires had almost died, but for a young terminal woman who had the desire to be of service to her fellow man even unto death.

This is a reminder to me that the reason that we are on this earth at all is to be of service to each other.

– by Tony Collins

(repost from another site I have forgotten to note. just sharing).

God’s Embroidery

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand.

I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for a while, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee and see the embroidery I have made for you.”

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy.

Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre- drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

————————————————————————

Many times through the years I have looked up to the Almighty and said, “O, My God, , what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.”

I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?”

The Almighty seems to tell me, “My child, you go about your business and allow me of doing My business, and one day I will put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.”

Do you have the patience for that ??

Haste when unwarranted is waste and may disturb the Almighty’s beautiful Plan for your life.

(pic: rosepearson.com)

 

What I Lost

Darn. I lost my cellphone again. It must’ve fell from my srub’s sidepockets when I took the cab on my way home from work. I didn’t realize that it got lost until late in the evening. When I tried calling my number, it was already turned off. The sim card must have been removed already.

Yup, this is the second time. Call me silly. But the first time was worst. It was stolen. That was about two years ago when my knapsack was cut by a sharp blade or knife while I was walking in Manila. I only found out later that there was a hole in my bag, and my cellphone was missing. And that phone was the expensive-type. I had to pay it in five installments for five months. But I still have to thank God because I wasn’t hurt by that person who did it.

This time, the phone that I lost wasn’t the flashy-expensive type of phone so I wasn’t really very particular on how much money I lost with losing that phone. I feel that what I really lose was a part of my being.

Losing a phone nowadays is like losing a part of your life. All your friends and relatives’ numbers are there. Unless you write their numbers in an address book, which most of the time we don’t, then we will be able to contact them still. Now I feel I lose some friends whom I can only reach by their numbers.

Some important text messages that I tried not to delete are now gone forever. Now, I just have to consider it like I accidentally deleted them from the trash box.

Pictures unsaved to the computer are now lost as well. That includes short videos taken by the phone as well.

And how will I put together again my To-do list which was saved on that phone. Important dates will be like considered forgotten with losing the alarm reminders that goes with that phone that I lost.

I usually sleep with my phone under my pillow. I feel so secured knowing that I would wake up on time with the alarm. And that somebody can just call me anytime, even during my sleep, for important matters. Yes, I can get another phone and a new number, but it will still take time before I will be able to let everybody know about my new contact number. At this time, I can not be reached by phone yet. How sad.

It seemed my world has revolved around my phone for the last years, and my life’s activities has intertwined with my phone’s functions. It’s like having a partner. I think that is how life is these modern times. Technology has taken over our lives.

One thing is for sure at this time – I will surely miss my old phone, but I need to get a new one

Heavy Load?

Awesome!!  We complain about the cross we bear but don’t  realize
it is preparing us for the dip in  the road that God can see and we  can’t.  
there will always be sunshine, after  the rain….
But God’s always ready, to  answer your call….
a word from His  lips, can calm every fear…
But  suddenly vanish, dawn’s early  light…
to give you His grace, and send you  His love…

Whatever your cross, whatever your  pain,

Perhaps you may stumble,  perhaps even fall;

He knows every  heartache, sees every tear,

Your sorrows  may linger, throughout the night,

The Savior is waiting, somewhere  above…

God promised a safe landing, not a calm passage.

**************************************************

(forwaded message)