Thursday, February 7, 2013

Whatever You Do. . . .

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."  Colossians 3:23

This is one of this week's memory texts for the Online Bible Study group I am participating in.  As soon as I read it, I knew how I wanted to keep this present in my thoughts and actions for the week--I would tape a copy of it up over my desk at work!  That would be the perfect way to remind myself that my work is not about me and my expectations, but about my patients and their expectations; it's about being Jesus in their lives. 

Perhaps this would be a good time to explain that I am a nurse in the OB/Gyn field.  I work in a busy physician's practice with seven Doctors, five Nurse-Midwives, a Nurse Practitioner, and a Physician's Asst.  There are about 10 other nurses, 15 lab personnel, and 30 or so business office staff.  Other than five of the Doctors and one guy in the business office, it is a LARGE group of women.   We know each others husbands, boyfriends, kids, and parents--and, of course, we know each others problems.  We have cried at funerals together, shopped together, wrapped Christmas gifts together, and we eat together every day.  It's a pretty cool experience, to be honest, and I wouldn't trade my "sisters" for anything.  It's a high pressure job, though!  You might think that OB nursing is all smiles and babies and hugs and flowers--and some days it is.  On other days, it's the saddest job on the planet.  Menopause is not much fun.  Some patients don't appreciate our advice.  How do you tell someone that they have cancer?  Not every pregnancy has a happy ending. 

Now, where was I. . . .

I printed the text and took it to work on Monday, but I forgot to put it up until nearly the end of the day.  I read it over as I closed the cabinet over my desk and smiled.  "This is going to be so inspirational tomorrow!", I thought, "I'm gonna get in here and throw myself into this list of phone calls to make and plow through every one of them!" 

I left the office with a smile on my face and a sense of satisfaction and anticipation of all that God and I would get done the next day.

I walked in Tuesday morning and read my text. Yep--that sense of excitement was still there--for about five minutes.  The Assistant Head Nurse walked up and said the words no nurse wants to hear, "Meghan is not coming in today, she's out with a sick child.  Your Doctor is on-call, so you will have to cover OB Call (her job) today."  GREAT!  OB CALL!!  Truthfully, this is my least favorite part of my job.  OB Call consists of fielding all of the phone calls from our OB patients about anything they have a question about or a problem with.  This can range from "I can't stop throwing up!" to "Why does my back hurt?" and the dreaded "I haven't felt my baby move all day." 

As I contemplated what my day might hold, and how I wouldn't be getting any of the stuff done that I had planned on working on, all the anticipation and excitement about "working for the Lord" just drained right out of me.  My smile turned upside down and a big old grumpy heart starting forming.  I turned to Susan, who was at the desk, and started venting my irritation at the whole frustrating situation and even pointed to the scripture above my desk!  She smiled at me and pointed out the obvious--that I had presented the old Devil with a challenge, and he didn't plan on letting me experience victory in this situation.  He was trying to trigger my "bossy gene" and it was up to me to put the situation back in God's hands.  Thanks goodness Susan was there!  My attitude did an about-face as I prayed hard over the situation.  My day was just as expected; full of stress, no lunch and so many phone calls, but it was also filled with the blessing of hearing patients tell me how much they appreciated my advice or my reassurance. When I read that text again at the end of the day, it had a clearer meaning for me.  It's not about me, it's about Him.

The work I had planned on doing didn't get done Tuesday, but the work God had planned for me did.

 

6 comments:

  1. Sandi I love your post and love your heart. I find sometimes we are all in that position. I have great plans to do something at home and the nursing home calls and mom has pneumonia, or my mother in law calls and needs something or there's a funeral or something. Life is that way and I remember words Melissa Taylor taught us "Jesus in Me" and now I have this verse. I know to do it, I know to give Him the glory, I know to do it unto Him - but like you that bossy gene (Satan) gets involved. I'm really learning to do better and go with the flow and now I am learning even better to let it go. Debbie Williams (OBS Leader)

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  2. The minute we lean into God, the devil starts pulling out his "bag of tricks." I loved how you use that "bossy gene" and turned it on him!

    ~Tammy
    Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Sandi-
    Thank you SO MUCH for participating in the blog hop. Praying for all of us as we learn to stop trying to control and start trusting God. Have a great weekend and remember to LET. IT. GO. :-)
    {Hugs} Karen Ehman

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  4. Sandi, Love your post! Thanks for sharing. Real life gets in the way of our best intentions. Keep clinging to Jesus, Girl!

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  5. Thanks for sharing transparently and vulnerably. You're a blessing to work with my friend!

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  6. Amazing! Thank you for sharing and putting it in a real life perspective. You brought tears to my eyes right at the end when you said, "The work I had planned on doing didn't get done Tuesday, but the work God had planned for me did." You are so right. We need to realize that God places us where HE needs us, not where we want to be. Thank you again for sharing and welcome to the Let it Go journey!

    -Erin Cuomo, OBS Group Leader

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