God Cares About Our Cares…
Winter Serenity at Bayview
Lately, I have been listening to a novel. (I’m learning to love Audible!) The chapters I’m in currently describe the journey of a young woman going through nurses training. Her encounters with suffering was wearing out her soul. Disturbing dreams about patients impacted her sleep. A friend told the young woman she must discover a different way of dealing with the mental stress of the profession.
Prayerfully, knowing God had called her to be a nurse, she asked for a way to cope and care at the same time. Like is so often the case in my own journey of faith, the Spirit spoke a simple remedy. Each time a particular patient came to the aspiring nurse’s heart, she asked God to help and bless that person. Then she imagined letting go and allowing Jesus to take the patient’s hand because God had not called her to keep holding their hand.
This story reminded me of my own similar story. When I started working in a professional capacity as an Employee Assistance Professional, I realized my heart was becoming overly burdened by the difficult stories of clients with whom I met. I knew enough about stress to realize I was headed for potential problems if I didn’t learn a different way to manage my reactions.
I’d worked in the field of human services long enough to observe two different negative reactions of some professionals working in high-stress positions involving broken people. Some burned out and quit. Others became cynical and hard-hearted. Neither of these was an option for me. So, like the young nursing student, I asked for God’s help. Because I am a visual learner, my prayer included the request for a graphic example.
For several weeks, there was no response. Then, one morning during my commute to work, I received my answer. (God is SO good!) I visualized my heart, tender and compassionate, but instead of being exposed and vulnerable, it was coated in Teflon. Like the way a fried egg slid easily from a Teflon-coated pan, so did the pain of others’ tragedy and pain slide from my heart. I was able to care without absorbing that which God never designed me to carry.
Lots of issues—personal, professional, political—can take residence in a human soul, creating stress God never designed us to lug around. If you can relate, I hope these two simple examples may bring comfort, hope, or remedy to you.
Blessings on your journey,
