Thursday Thoughts...

Breesa died yesterday morning, but it was for the better because she was pretty mangled and it was pretty obvious that she was bleeding into her lungs.

I got really excited today and wanted to share about Ms. Betty. She's doing great - pressure 120/80, sugar around 160, AND her sacral wound has healed! We got to take the cath out today, which was celebrated with a "praise the Lord!" by her and us. Julianne and the others take such good care of her. Aside from that, we're still not sure if they'll get Papa Lee back here because the doctor needs to sign for his discharge is presently not there. I think I mentioned that he has prostate cancer and they decided not to operate. So sad, yet, he's had a long life and he's ready to see Jesus. It's been wonderful having the PA "Dr. Mike" and his wife, Sarah Voorhis, here. They love it so far and add so much to the team!

Wow, I'll be home in a little over a week! I'm both sad to be leaving but happy to be returning with such great experiences. I have learned so much by being here - meds, treatments, diagnoses - it's all so interesting. Yesterday, we saw people with cellulitis, mastitis, scabies and colds. Who would've thought that Head & Shoulders would be the most effective treatment of scabies? The Permethrin in it is the key ingredient! Alisa and I got the pray with Ruth, a Spanish-speaking woman who is really struggling right now because she is overjoyed about being preganant (3 mos), yet, her husband wants her to have an abortion. She refuses to do that, thankfully, but broke down crying in the clinic yesterday.

Even more, I've been learning about why God brought me here. At first, I thought my whole point in being here was to serve God. But, He has shown me that my purpose here was for God to love me, and for me to love God. I have had to step back from the business and distractions of life that I get caught up in all too often. I am so often more a human "doing" than a human "being." When that happens, I can easily forget that my primary purpose in life is to allow God to love me and to delight in that. Service is secondary to that relationship - and needs to flow completely from that, too. Otherwise, I'm just serving out of my own strength and not out of the love of Christ.