The Hospital and Sabbath

It is a great Sabbath today. I just left the hospital with my son and mother after going there on Thursday afternoon.

My last work visit ended earlier than expected so I headed home to work from home, but learned my son was vomiting several times that day. He also wasn't breathing right so I called the pcp and then decided to head to a hospital with a pediatric emergency department. I went to the main emergency room to register and it was packed with people. The representative had me fill out a card and slip it in a slot so I could queue for registration and I waited about 15 to 20 minutes when a nurse who happened to be in passing heard my son's attempts to breathe and whimpers. She said he wasn't in a good state and was going to take him back right away when the representative finally called his name. He had me sign one form and we went back immediately with the nurse to finish the registration in a room with his bed. Within 3 minutes mt son, mom, and I were surrounded by 6-8 medical professionals, several of which were nurses, a doctor, a pediatric behavioral clinician, and other technicians working on the iv and medicines.

The Lord just had it so my mother had enough time to park my car and get inside so that this nurse who was on her way to some place else would pass near and hear his struggle. Prior to returning home, I had plans to work from home and so when I thought to take him to the ER, I grabbed every electronic and item I  needed for a long night. I didn't expect them to admit him.

Friday I had a school meeting scheduled for my son to get him into the disabled program. I ended up going alone and afterwards, stopping to get real food (not hospital food), for my mom. I am thankful that I have such flexibility with my job that I can work from home if emergencies arise. I was able to get my work done at the hospital and schedule meetings with the school district with no issue.

The Lord had it that I got home in time when my son started getting really sick. I learned later that he was having a reactive airway disease (RAD not to be confused with reactive attachment disorder), which is often the precursor to diagnosing an individual with asthma. This was the first time this has happened. The hospital was awesome and despite the constant 2 hour respiratory treatments and vital sign checks, I enjoyed the stay there.

The nurses, physicians, clinicians, food service, and play area were all blessings and God had it so we were all taken care of. I have had a hospital stay for myself and visited others in hospitals in high standing in my region and they don't make the mark as this place did. My son is home, healthier, happy and asleep peacefully next to me.

This is my testimony today.

Happy Sabbath: Thanking God For The Simple Things

The Lord woke me up this morning. That is my testimony today. I had a wonderful week at my new job and the people in my life continued to be supportive even as things are becoming more confusing for me to manage. I thank God that He has my back in all of this.

I was able to get to work every day on time, finish my orientation trainings (which are a lot), set up binders and a calendar system to maintain productivity, and respond to my first work related call with no blunders.  Now next week, I expect to get out with my supervisor and test the real waters. I know God is with me and won't leave me to failure so long as I remember who I am working for. Learning to rely on God and less on myself is taking away anxiety for me and for that, I am grateful.

I also learned there is an opportunity for me to go to France with my son in December, and Williamsburg, VA in October. Of course I'll have to get the passport renewals sooner than I anticipated and I would chop into my travel savings accounts, but such vacations don't come often for me. Those are things I need to pray about as conflict is under all of that.

One of the days that I was off between the switch of employers, I decided to take my sister and son to King of Prussia mall and ended with a moment in the woods. Because nature is more beautiful than shopping at a gorgeous mall sometimes. This was her first time visiting this wooded park that I camped in last month and we walked almost all of the trails before the inevitable happened when one allows someone who can't follow GPS signals to lead.

It happened when I was telling her we needed to head left. We went left and suddenly deer came into view and spooked us. We ended up going right she held the GPS while I carried my son and although we ended up walking the entire peninsula unintended, there were some gorgeous sights to behold. God is so good and makes the most beautiful things. Creatures were grouped in their own territories throughout the woods. The deer had their place. These strange but fun moth creatures had theirs. Cotton tail rabbits were in the high grass, and I caught sight of a beautiful little island out along the western part of the peninsula that I never thought I'd venture. There were little bridges placed on different trails and no bees/hornets to ruin our adventure. I would love to visit this place in autumn.

It's such a beautiful day. Happy Sabbath everyone :)

Who Are You Working For?

Happy Sabbath!  I am home today spending time reading God’s word and reflecting over the events of this week.  The Sabbath is a wonderful thing and people who don’t make it a part of their lives are really missing out on the benefits.  I sure am happy that I have this day off from work and other issues.  I started my new job this week and I am doing my best to not feel overwhelmed. The Sabbath offers me space to de-stress,  heal, mentally/physically rest, and rejoice in the goodness of God and all that He is. 

Career wise, God has put me in a wonderful place where I can be used to make the changes I envisioned for peoples lives when I was going through graduate school.  I wanted to work with this population, but didn’t know how to make my school experience work to get me there.  God knew what the deal was and placed me exactly where I needed to be even when I didn’t see it.  Now, I’m here.  I work for one of the best agencies in the city and the location of the office is so ridiculous, I’m lost for words.  I used to struggle for years to get down to this very block.  All entertainment, restaurants, activities, things I cared about were on that block and within a mile radius of it.  My office is right smack in the center.  God has given me a great set up, a great supervisor, lots of supportive people, and convenience that I never thought I’d have at this stage in my career. From what they are offering in a small way, I am even considering staying on with this place beyond 10 years. 

I still do not know all the plans God has for me, but I thank Him for where He has brought me.  I have a very important job to do and as I go each day, I have to remind myself of one important thing: Who I’m working for.  I started a new reading plan which is about people being too busy.  It shared one person’s view that they were running about only to be a shadow to fade to nothing.  Busyness is impressive to others, so we flaunt our schedules, problems, all to get a pity or a pat on the back.  I know at times I opened my planner to show off my dozen of post-its over top of other scribbles of appointments to shock people about my work. That is something I am going to have to stop doing.  I have to remember who I am working for.  I have to remember who’s glory I am seeking.  It shouldn’t be my own.   

All texts this week are supplemental to that daily theme (who I’m working for).  I am working for God first.  He brought me in here and He can most certainly take me out. So I challenge you to know your motivation(s) for all that you do.  When you put God first and let Him be your reason for the good that you do, there is nothing you cannot accomplish in your life.  Putting God first has opened many doors for me.  He will do this for you too.  J

Casting All Your Care Upon Him...

I had a good Sabbath last week. I chose to stay home and not take part in activities that did not glorify God and I don't regret it. To go would not have been worth it.

I want to do better.

Sunday, I headed to work still with a mouth fresh with stitches from Thursday's surgery. I ate solids that morning, but was still hungry and nauseous from the meds. When I went to sit down, I saw a familiar book set before me. It was one of the prime Adventist literature I would pass out some years back (I used to also be the ABC bookstore girl at one point for my church). 

It was the Great Controversy.

I've never known the church to mail out copies to random addresses and I learned that this happened after inspecting it and asking my client about it. I asked him if I could have it, but he said he wanted to read it since I told him it talked about Jesus, an accurate history of what happened over the centuries, and what to expect in the future (highlighting what God says in the Holy Bible).

I read the first chapter of it, still desiring to have it.

I had in my mind to go out to the movie theater on Thursday that week to see a Christian movie called War Room. The previous Sabbath, while looking at acceptable content, I saw a commercial for it. I have not been to a theater in years and thought it would be a great thing to do the day after I quit my job for good. 

I also wanted to have a smoothie.  I was sick that morning from the doxycycline the dentist prescribed me to keep infection away from the surgery site. I thought this only AFTER my mouth started bleeding profusely for over 30 minutes. It didn't bleed Friday or Saturday but decided to do this on Sunday. I called the answering service for my dentist and they told me to use tea bags. The tannin in the bags stops bleeding so I did that and it finally stopped.

My client later said he wanted to go to his church because they were showing a movie. He isn't a Christian and only goes to scope out the ladies, but I still took him with hope that perhaps he would accept this church's message. It really is a nice Methodist church and even though some people are standoffish, they are friendly.  So I took him and enjoyed a movie called, Ring the Bell. Before the movie started, the pastor mentioned something that sounded like the word "smoothie", but I thought I misheard.

After the movie, he reminded the congregation that they were in fact serving SMOOTHIES in the gym. I was excited about this and headed there to find they had several smoothie bars set up all around the gym. I had a delicious  fruit based smoothie and my client had milk based ones (cookies and cream, and fruit).

God knew I wanted a smoothie because of my mouth surgery and provided it. He also knew something else I didn't know.

I expected my son to not be with me that week and I learned last minute that my childcare arrangements fell through. That would mean no time for a Thursday movie for War Room. So the Lord blessed me with a wonderful film that Sunday and fed me too!

On September 1st, I came to work and looked again at the book that my client had thinking he's not going to read it. I decided to buy the book for myself. I placed an order on Amazon that morning.

September 1st was the day I was baptized into the Adventist church back in 2007. I felt it was important for me to recommit myself to God and get back to what I used to do, even though I do not currently attend church or have a church home. I'm praying about that too. I prayed that day for the Lord to help me not keep quiet about His goodness.

September 2nd came, my last day at my job. A young lady came to shadow me and near the end of the shift, she revealed some stuff about her mental health to me and her spiritual struggle. I used the opportunity to share with her what I knew about her diagnosis from a budding psychotherapists standpoint. I also was able to talk about God to her too and she was receptive.

I will continue to talk to God about any future I think I might have doing clinical level work. I don't know what the future will bring, but I'm glad Jesus will be apart of it. Today is Sabbath. I checked Amazon to see when my Great Controversy book copy would arrive and it gave me some ridiculous out of the time period. I put my phone aside to check my mail.

The book arrived today well ahead of time. Right on time for me to read today.

So if we cast our care upon Him, He will care for us. I've gone periods where I didn't think God cared for me. In all this, even as little as it may seem to other people, I know He cares.

I just have to put in extra effort on my part to show Him my care for Him.