Part of me is looking forward to moving to Uganda. I think about nursing school and if nothing else, I was trained to provide education: what to eat, what not to eat, how to take medicines, how much water to drink, how to exercise, and how to manage chronic illnesses. For all of the approximately 1200 patients that were seen during the March trip to Uganda, probably two-thirds of them (this is my estimate...and hasn't been verified) mainly needed education on health (eg. how to lower blood pressure with diet and exercise changes), hygiene (eg. "if you wash yourself from time to time, you won't have itching in the nether regions and think you have syphilis"), and illness myths (eg. "my child has a cough and I think it's malaria"). Though I'm inexperienced as a nurse, I've been equipped to provide education to patients.
So all that being said, when I read blog posts like this one, I panic and the part of me that is not looking forward to Uganda wins over the part that does. I realize that not only am I inexperienced, but even with years of experience, I'd still be doing stuff out of my scope of practice. I want to provide good health care, but I know that I am way out of my league. Given textbooks, resources, and doctors like Ed and Cody who are willing to answer questions through calls and emails, I'm praying that, at the very best, I'll be able to provide care that otherwise would not be given, and at the very worst, I won't kill someone with a wrong diagnosis and treatment. The theme in my quiet times the past week or so has been dependence on the Lord. Time and time again I've been reminded that I'm not in control anyway, but it's when I know that I'm not in control and I'm at my weakest and my vulnerable state, that the Lord has the opportunity to be shine most brightly. I need to get out of the way.
Now, if I could just remember to get out of my own way of support raising and remember to trust the Lord and His abundant provision.
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I think Daily Light for this morning should be posted above our "nurses' station" in the clinic:
"The Lord was my support."
“Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.”—The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.—“Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. . . . When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.—“The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”—So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”—For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?—the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.
Ps. 18:18; Jer. 3:23; Ps. 18:2; Isa. 12:6; Ps. 34:7, 17; Deut. 33:27; Heb. 13:6; Ps. 18:31, 32; 1 Cor. 15:10
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