Eyes of Grace

Can you say WOOOHOOO!!?
I am done this semester...only one to go - yeehaw!
I am excited. There have been so many times when I have wanted to quit along the way...so many times! But I didn't and here I am, one semester to go! Having said that, I pray all goes well in my final semester. I will be in ICU. It is a little intimidating, but our hospital has a good ICU team and I am looking forward to learning from them.

For those of you who don't know, I have gone back to university to get my registered nursing degree. I do not have a background in health care, so it has been a challenge from so many angles. Regardless, here I am, persevering. (And I must say sincerely that it is because of God that I am in this program and that I have stuck with it...story for another time...)

This semester past, I spent in Telemetry. This is pre and post cardiac care. Being a student has many advantages, like being able to take extra time with the patients...and I took full advantage of that;) I heard so many stories - joys, hopes, hurts...oh, the pain and bondage of some breaks my heart. But with these stories, I was able to share my faith and encourage. I also had the privilege to pray over these patients. The stories that people confided to me has only provoked me to implore of the Lord to use me to set the captives free more and more. This is where my heart aches. I can see the potential in each person to be all that God intended them to be, yet because of this or that, they (we all) continue to struggle in different areas, captive to the enemy of our souls.

I am grateful for this experience...to be honest, these past couple of years have been hellish for me, but they have brought me to where I am today. I have a deeper appreciation for the person behind each story I encounter, a deeper desire to pray for each person to become all that they could be, a deeper gratitude for the saving grace of my Lord Jesus in my own life...

Over this holiday season, I want to encourage each of you to look at every person you meet with eyes of Grace. Don't look at what you see, but rather at what could be if that person was truly set free in Christ...and then treat them that way, with the Love of Jesus.
~mp:)