Peace in Death and Morality on the Job

Whoa, that is a loaded title. Can you tell it has been a difficult week?

Today I took what my sister calls a "Mental Health" sick day....I've never done that before, but it was much needed. My mom graciously is keeping Charlie for most of the day so I can do mundane things such as iron, fold towels, just general things that don't involve much thought or emotion...

I was on the phone with my friend Jill last night, like many nights. She is one of the few Christians I work with, and she was telling me about the events of her workday. We struggle alot with dealing with the immorality around us, and we often talk about how to help each other get through the day. I am so glad to work with her, even just one day a week, because the hospital setting is notorious for, well, gossip and illicit activity. It is not a struggle to SAY you are a Christian there, because "Oh, we are all Christians" if you ask anyone I work with. This is not a post to be judgemental, by any means, but it is difficult to constantly work with coworkers who are married and yet continue to act as if they are not....who continue to engage in activities that are non-Christian...who continue to tell dirty jokes even when you have said you didn't want to hear them...I could go on and on in this area. It is not that it is hard to BE a Christian in this workplace, because it only affirms what I believe...however, it is SO hard to continually be stuck in this environment. The answer is not necessarily changing jobs. Every area I have worked in this hospital has this problem, as well as the place I worked at UAB. Most days I can just ignore it, but somedays, like last night....it was just too much.... thus, the "mental health" day I chose to take.

Jumping to other emotions... one of my patients that I have cared for for several weeks passed away while under my care. Imagine a sweet 84 year old lady with a blood pressure of 53/25 and heart rate of 150 sitting up in bed...when I ask her how she is, she says, "I'm fine, honey, how are you?" So you can imagine that when I walked into her room Monday morning to see her and found her in agony that her vital signs were equally as bad. She was scared for me to leave her bedside, even though her family was surrounding her. A little later, her family stood in the doorway of her room with me and all decided that it was time to give comfort care only and acknowledged that she was going to die. I left the room to get her Morphine drip started and by the time I got back to the room 5 minutes later with the medicine....she was almost gone. It was amazing to see the peace that had come over her once her family had come to peace with their decision. It was very sad and hard to see, especially with the sweet family surrounding her and praying as she passed away. Somedays at work are just difficult...

I have been struggling today to find Scripture to help for when you are overwhelmed and dealing with standing up for what you believe. I know my personal favorites for these times...but I would love for you guys to share with me any favorite verses that you hold on to when life gets hard.

***By the way, I promise soon to post a "Laughter in Death" that always lifts my spirits when I think of it."