Peaceful & Purposeful LIFE
For many years, when my children were young, I worked as a bedside nurse in critical care. I loved the challenge and critical thinking required to be an intensive care nurse at a Level I trauma center. And I also loved the opportunity to be part of an exceptional team of caregivers, dedicated to their patients and their patients’ families.
From the moment I began working in ICU as a nurse assistant (while I was in nursing school), I knew critical care was where I was meant to be. I had the deepest respect for the ICU nurses I assisted. They were the ones who had to be brilliant, as well as kind and calm. They had to be knowledgeable and be able to apply that knowledge at the drop of a hat, whether in lifesaving situations or generally assessing and caring for their patients. And, because they worked in a teaching hospital, they were not only responsible for providing the highest level of care to their patients, but they also educated student nurses and mentored newer nurses.
ICU patients were known as ‘the worst of the worst,’ ‘sickest of the sickest.’ Being a Level I trauma center meant that anyone who required the highest level of medical treatment was sent to us from anywhere in the region. Persons in need of immediate and critical life-saving treatment from vehicle or machine accidents, gunshots, stabbings, suicides, homicides, strokes, and heart attacks were among those brought to us by ambulance or care flight. While the majority of the patients in ICU would come from outside transportation and ER admits, some came from surgery or other units in the hospital. Any time a patient would become unstable or necessitated closer observation, they would be transferred to ICU.
If you have been fortunate never to have seen the inside of an ICU, then you may not completely understand what it is that a nurse in this unit does. While I could go into explicit detail, recognizing all that these skilled men and women do in what seems like a much too short twelve-hour shift, I will simply say they are responsible for providing lifesaving care for patients who are fighting for their lives.
As an ICU nurse, I acknowledged the seriousness of every decision I made. It was definitely not something that I took lightly. Each shift demanded all of me: clarity and resolve of mind; energy and determination; passion and compassion; and quickness and skill. To be at this top performing level, especially on a night shift, I knew it would take more than just hoping, a really good pep talk, and a really strong cup of coffee. I knew that to get through every shift, I needed Him.
I needed my Father. I needed the wisdom, humility, strength, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that only comes from Him to be the best nurse I could be.
So, I began a prayer routine every day on my twenty-five-minute commute to the hospital. Nothing fancy or scripted. I would just talk to God. Tell Him how grateful I was for the opportunity to care for His people. And that to do that to the best of my ability I knew I needed His help. My prayer was for His Spirit to fill me and that I be used by Him to serve others for Him.
When I prayed and started my shift with the intention to be a servant to be used by Him, I would have the most fulfilling shift. And that was not to say that everything went perfectly- in the sense that nothing eventful happened, every patient improved significantly, and coworkers all worked together harmoniously. Not in the least.
In fact, usually the opposite. Drama and excitement came in all forms. Loud arguments and altercations would arise from visitors that would result in calling campus security. Coworkers would get snippy with each other. Patients that appeared stable would crash and need resuscitation. Trauma/close to death patients would come in and need worked on all night to stabilize. Bizarre things tend to happen in high pressure environments. (And, for the record, the rumors about full moons are 100% accurate.) It got to be a joke with my fellow nurses that when they worked with me, we would be in for a crazy night and the crash cart (the cart with the defibrillator and lifesaving IV meds) would need to be kept close.
But those same coworkers would say they wouldn’t have it any other way. Because while crazy things would happen, the teamwork and the amazing experiences we shared saving lives and doing the work we were called to do together were some of the best times. Memories that would be cherished for the rest of our lives. We bonded in those times. We recognized that there was a Power greater than us that was working through us, doing something bigger than us.
The lessons I learned from critical care nursing and relying on Him before every shift taught me that my actions mattered. How I served others mattered. Whether it was safely caring and advocating for my patients, supporting my patients’ families by keeping them informed and listening to their stories of their loved ones, or assisting and encouraging my coworkers through some long and grueling nights, I had the opportunity each day to make an impact. The decisions I made could either contribute to a positive or not-so-positive experience.
Isn’t this the choice we have every day? We can choose to be used to make this world a better place. Be more intentional with how we live our lives and how it affects others. Or we can choose to be self-minded, self-focused in our decisions, only concerned with how we would benefit. Or there’s many of us that default to an auto-pilot-like mindset, not putting much thought into our words and actions at all. And if we are on a self-concerned or auto pilot-like mindset, should we be surprised that our lives would seem more survival than purposeful?
I had experienced the peace and purpose God desired for me amid the most outlandish situations as a critical care nurse because I knew His Will was being done. I knew that what I was called to do in the hospital was significant and that the only way to do it well was by asking Him to be with me and work through me. Being surrendered to Him, willing to be used by Him, to serve others was one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Now before you assume that I had my life together early on, let me set the record straight. Yes, I am beyond grateful God revealed this fundamental principle in my life when He did. I cannot imagine what my nursing career would have looked like otherwise. However, my tiny little brain only fully grasped the value of this dependent relationship with God in my career.
I should have seen that the reason for the most consistently peaceful and purposeful part of my life, in a chaos-ridden hospital mind you, was because of my submissive posture before the Lord. Logically, I should have recognized the connection and more frequently applied this same posture to other areas of my life, especially my marriage and motherhood. Why I didn’t use transitive property (yes, I said transitive property- I’m a huge math nerd) and incorporate prayer and surrender as a daily practice regardless of my environment to obtain the same results, I will never know.
Thankfully, at some point down the road, the aha moment came. Looking back, I cannot recall what it was that knocked some sense into me. I mean, I had surely heard the message hundreds of times of the importance of starting the day with healthy spiritual habits. But it wasn’t until I began consistently seeking God each morning that I truly began to see His hand in my everyday life.
The way I started my shifts at the hospital, prayerfully asking that God use me- this is the perspective I should have every morning to start the day. Because my interactions with every person who comes across my path today deserves the same intentional treatment as my critical care patients did then. The same clarity and resolve of mind; energy and determination; passion and compassion; and quickness and skill/talent that only comes from God.
Lord, help me to choose You. Draw nearer to You. So that You may work through me every day!
Good Friday! 
On this Good Friday, we celebrate and solemnly acknowledge what Jesus did for us all. Where Jesus-the Son of God- chose to take on the full punishment of all our sins and suffered and died on the cross.
God, out of His Amazing Love for His children and desire to be connected to us, chose to send His Son to earth to save all those who believe from eternal separation from Him. Jesus willingly became a sacrifice of atonement, paying the price for our sins.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are justified and forever united with God!
As we celebrate this Easter weekend, let us truly take in what it means for God to choose us. And let that love remind us each and every day of how grateful we are to get to choose Him back!
‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ -Romans 3:23,24
‘He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.’ -Romans 4:25
Peaceful & Purposeful LIFE (Live Intentionally For Eternity)
‘So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ -2 Corinthians 4:19
‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ -John 17:3