Weary. That word could describe a lot of us, couldn't it?! I know for a fact many healthcare workers feel this deeply right now. Clocking into shift after extra shift, surveying the short-staffed list of coworkers, anticipating the busy flurry of flu season, and struggling to still maintain the best patient care. I've been told that every first-year nurse experiences burnout at some point. I don't know that I've reached that point yet, but I do have to admit that I am feeling extra tired this week.
I remember so vividly the moment I clicked open my NCLEX results. My temporary license was crossed out, and the words, Siobhan Piercey, RN flashed across my screen. RN. Two letters. Yet they carried such an enormous sense of responsibility. I was no longer lingering in the shadow of my preceptor, tentatively forming my own ideas of how I would go about caring for her patients. They were my patients now. My responsibility. The thought exhilarated and terrified me.
Being a nurse means I am the eyes for my patient. Many people will walk in and out of their room, but my eyes are the ones that will often catch the first change in condition. My hands are performing the interventions the doctors decide upon. That vial of medication is being carefully poured, measured, and given by me. Mine is the voice that speaks up for my patient when nobody else recognizes that something is not quite right. This weight of responsibility could be crippling, if it weren't for the fact that ultimately there is another hand that is guiding mine. There is another eye that sees more than mine could ever see. And there is another voice that can heal with just a word.
You hold my very moment,
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You, I trust in You
And I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need-I believe
I love medical stories and dramas. My sweet dad has been made to sit through countless episodes of "Call the Midwife" with me and my mom! Always there is a mounting excitement, a growing tension, and ultimately a seemingly miraculous intervention that leads to a resolution. Medical dramas always have flashy stories that catch our attention and keep us wondering what the outcome will be. I was thinking about this as I came to a passage where Jesus Himself was a Healer in my Bible reading the other day. If some of those stories were made into medical dramas, I doubt many people would watch them. Jesus' healings were not always designed to be dramatic or showy. They were simple, pure, and far deeper than the surface healing that our culture wonders over. In John 9:6-7, Jesus "spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam...'So the man went and washed, and came home seeing." Later when the man was thrown out by the religious leaders, Jesus approached the man with the words, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" In Matthew 8, when given the 0pportunity to heal a centurion's servant, Jesus says, '“Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.”' Pay attention to where his focus is here: it is not on the acts of healing. It is on the men's faith. Jesus prioritizes healing His people's hearts over their bodies.
Our culture is so ready for quick fixes and instant gratification. We are desperate for a rapid solution to the pain we feel. If we have a headache, we pop open a bottle of tylenol. If we have a cut, we throw on a bandaid. Even simple things like being able to drink when we are thirsty or eat when we are hungry are so often taken for granted. Yet Jesus cares not only about our physical needs but about our spiritual needs. A bottle of motrin cannot fix a broken spirit. All the cleansing in the world cannot rid us of our sinful hearts. Jesus knows our weaknesses and does care about our physical integrity, but He also takes the time and effort to probe deeper into His peoples' hearts and make them clean. This is the most precious type of healing there is.
My help comes from You
You are my rest, my rescue
I don't have to see to believe that
You're lifting me up on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
You mend what once was shattered
And You turn my tears to laughter
Your forgiveness is my fortress
Oh, Your mercy is relentless
My help comes from You
You're right here, pulling me through
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness
All on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
When you are feeling especially weary, hold onto these precious promises. Jesus is the true Healer, and He is guiding our every word and thought. He is directing the story of our lives, and He has a power far greater than any pain or cure. He carries our weakness, our brokeness, our weariness, and our sinfulness so we don't have to.
HE is our Healer. He is our Savior. He is our Strength. Rest on Him this week! I can promise you, He won't let you go.
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