April is fast approaching and, too often it brings turbulent storms. When I hear about unstable weather such as hurricanes and tornados, I remember the stories I heard while working years ago in Alabama. I was coaching and speaking at a large hospital, and the staff had just suffered the wounds that come from a tornado in their surrounding counties.
The stories I heard were about the compassion and empathy of a nursing staff in an Emergency Room (ER) in Alabama. A tornado hit, and women and children were brought to the nurses in the ER. God’s nurses, they were placed in positions for Him to show His great compassion for His people. The nurses who were not “on duty” reported in without even being called. Hearts were filled with emotion, and hands were extended to hold.
Tiffany, my friend and colleague, was one of those nurses. As Chief Nursing Office, she didn’t have to go in that day, but she did, and she went straight to the ER.
A woman was brought in with injuries inflicted by the storm. She had also lost everything in her possession.
In order to care for her injuries, Tiffany knew that she had to cut away her clothing. “It was at that moment when I picked up the scissors and looked at her that I realized I was cutting away the last piece of clothing she had in her possession. Everything else was gone.”
It didn’t take long for the nursing staff within the hospital – from the ER to the surgical floors and the physical therapy department – to hear about this woman.
They answered the “divine call.” Divine calls are not in official hospital “procedure books.” The nursing staff replaced her undergarments with new ones, and they didn’t buy just any undergarments. They purchased fine garments from an upscale lingerie store. They also chipped in and replaced a comforter set to replace hers that had been swept away in the storm.
This is only one of the many stories I heard in Alabama that day. Healthcare providers are so powerful in the lives of the people placed in their paths. They are the mirrors of God’s tenderness to His people who are hurting and afraid.
I pray we are spared the storms of changing weather patterns this spring. But if they come, it gives me comfort to know that there are those who have answered God’s call to minister to His people in need.
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Matthew 9: 35-38