"Don't Let Your Hearts Be Troubled"

Working nightshift at this correction facility I've been in for nine years, it is expected that we see inmates who feel ill at night, time to time. It's hard sometimes as we don't have a doctor on board. We can consult an on-call physician if we need to.



So, one easy-going night can turn chaotic just like that, depending on requests received from different units whose inmates are requesting to be seen by the medical staff. Some are real, and some have fake complaints.



One night, I received a call from one of the units and this man was complaining of chest pain that just wouldn't go away after dinner. Escorted by the deputy, I saw the big man came through the double door. I motioned for him to go through a particular door that led to the clinic so I could start assessing him and start taking his vital signs. I had a small brown bottle of nitroglycerin nearby if I needed to give it depending on my assessment. So, as I was taking his blood pressure reading, I started asking him.


"How bad was your pain and where is it located?"


Inmate: "Really bad, ma'am. I can't sleep. It started after dinner. Right here. [while he started moving his right arm up and down pointing from the front of neck down to mid-abdomen where the stomach is located]."


"What did you have for dinner? Was there anything new that you might have eaten or anything irritable like too spicy kind of food?" [All the vital signs were normal at this time]...


Inmate: "Come to think of it, yes, I did have a lot of coffee."


"Hmmm....Did you have any history of heartburn or any problem with stomach from the past?"


Inmate: thinking for a while, "yes."


"I'm glad you said that because I see it from your chart that you do have a history of taking a pill specifically for heartburn. I know that it's not a heart problem now but more of your heartburn."


Inmate: "I'm sorry ma'am. I just didn't know what it was. I thought it was chest pain."


"That's okay. If you don't request to be seen, then we will never find out. That's why we're here is to help you with those kinds of things. Let me ask you further, if I may. Was there anything that happened in your unit or something today that might have precipitated to your stomach ache?"


Inmate: "What do you mean, ma'am?"


"I'm just saying that it's not only irritable foods that might give you an ache, but also any form of worrying or anxiety, like if someone was threatening you, I want to know, so I can have the custody staff help you in that aspect. Maybe have you be moved to another cell if needed."


Inmate: "Ma'am....paused....long sigh....You're right....I went to court this morning. I was so scared because I didn't know what the sentence would be like. I didn't want to be incarcerated for a very long time and so, I was worried the whole time until I saw the judge. We just started with the trial so I don't know the result yet." [I gave him a concoction of 3 kinds of liquid medicine that would help with his stomach pain at this time].


"Sir, that's understandable. To not know the outcome. But no amount of medications can help you not unless you help yourself first. Try to relax and just take it, one trial at a time. If you feel like you need something to help you calm down or sleep, you can ask for us to see you again or you can let me know now so I can get you the appropriate help that you need."


Inmate:appearing more relaxed at this time, "I feel better now. I think I want to go back to my unit now. Thank you so much, nurse."


"You're welcome and I hope that you will always feel better. Relax...Don't forget."

The haggard face gave me a smile back.



Are you like this person, feeling anxious for any uncertainties in your life? Worrying about the future? Scared about how you would come up with the mortgage payment now that the interest rate had gone higher? Fearful of not having enough income to pay for your bills? Worried about your failing health? Anxious about the future of your marriage? Worried about your children who are not heeding your advices? I can go on and on...



The problem with that inmate was not from something that he ate but "from what's eating him up."



We all have an on-call "Physician", too Who we can call on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He knows our needs and He can surely help what's ailing us. Hand over the storms in your life to the Hands Who will calm them for you.



Matthew 6:25 -""Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?



Matthew 6:27 -"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?"


James 1:2 -"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds"



Psalm 94:19 -"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."



1 Peter 5:7 -"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

The Potter's Clay

Sunday night, my son sat down to start with the book project he needs to finish for Language Arts. He finished the book report and then, he was supposed to make a doll depicting the character in his story.

Putting out his clay materials, plastic knife, aluminum foil and other things on the table, he sat down and I marvelled as the clay started taking its form. He was deeply concentrated as he pulled a wad of a particular colored clay and delicately, his hands applied it to the desired shape he wanted.

I started taking pictures. Watching him reminded me of how much love our Potter had poured in creating us after His own image. Here are the pictures:

Lord, You are our "Potter" and we are the "clay". What right do we have to question what You do? "Change our hearts, oh God, so we can be like You."

Reaching for Hope

Heard over the radio: "Unit 8 nurse, we got a mandown."

Medical: "Nurses en route."

2 pairs of hurried steps echoed all throughout the hallways from the clinic to Unit 8. A big bag with emergency kits was strapped over one shoulder of my co-worker. My hands were carrying an O2 Sat monitor [gadget that detects O2 saturation in the blood and checks the pulse], as my own teal stethoscope dangles around my neck. Unmindful of the weight of the radio hidden in my scrub uniform's left pocket.

The metal door opened and a waft of cold breeze hit both of us. We didn't get a chance to get the particular inmate's medical records. The deputies motioned us to enter an opened metal door housing the "downed"inmate. He wasn't responding, according to the other inmates housed with him in that particular unit. They got concerned and called the deputies.

A heavy-set man was lying on his back, with opened eyes that had a fixed stare. His skin was very cold, clammy and very diaphoretic. He was motionless, as his right arm seemed a little bit contracted. This life mingling with other inmates a while ago, now rested on both my co-worker's and my hands. To both of us, he was not just an "inmate." He was one of us, loved the same by our God, whose life was now in imminent danger. We had to make a quick yet accurate decision with our interventions as we felt like we were losing him. The other inmates laying on their own beds had their eyes glued to us as this drama began to unfold.

Noting that he was wearing a "yellow band" that medical staff put if they have a history of heart problems or diabetes, I noticed he was diabetic and has a history of hypertension. While my co-worker attempted to start an IV, I decided to check his blood sugar level. It was "31", a very low reading.

I found the small, orange plastic box that housed the small syringe with glucagon or sugar in it that I could inject to his muscle to make his blood sugar rise. With quick hands, I was praying softly in my head, "Lord, help us to do Your will. Guide us with Your wisdom and protect this precious life." I gave a shot to his right thigh.

The other nurse unsuccessfully found a vein as they all seemed to have collapsed. I checked the other vital signs, blood pressure was normal high and pulse was okay at 59-60 beats per minute. His respiration was not labored though slow and seemed to be shallow. I reached for another shot of "sugar" as we were not able to give the intravenous form. I aimed for the right deltoid muscle of the arm this time.

The wait seemed to be forever, as every minute passed by and we waited for the ambulance to come. It felt like everything was on a standstill. 10 minutes after the second shot I gave, miraculously, the man started talking and was revived. His contracted right arm started reaching for his blanket and he was answering appropriately to the other nurse's questions as if he just woke up from a dream. Accucheck went up to "55", still low but that's a lot better than the other reading. He sat up, thankful when he found out what we did to help him. [No! Thank You Lord for giving this man another chance!].

My co-worker and I sighed with a big relief! Our stiff and tensed faces were able to relax more and smiled as we kept on reassuring the man. That man's life needed the hope of being revived physically but I started wondering if that life remained dead with his inherited sins and desperately needed the spiritual renewal that Jesus offers to everyone who would humble themselves before Him and accept Him as Lord and Savior...

Life is not easy in the jail. Some of these incarcerated people are deprived of God's knowledge, of His love, of His grace. How many of them are feeling hopeless inside those tiny, cramped cells? How can they reach out their hand if there was no source of light?

They are physically alive but remain spiritually dead, just like how we, born-again Christians once were. They need a rebirth, a new life in their spirit, like what we had received.

If you find yourself in a dark place with others, you could be representing that light that God reflects. Sometimes, that's all they need is to know that there is hope....through you...from God, the Source of Hope and Restoration. May God shine upon us so we can shine and be able to be seen by those reaching hands all around us.

Psalm 62:5 -"My soul, wait in silence for God only,For my hope is from Him."


Psalm 146:5 -"How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,Whose hope is in the LORD his God"

Romans 5:5 -"and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us"

1 Timothy 4:10 -"For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers."

1 Peter 1:3 -"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

You Are The One

You Are The One

You are the One Who changed my heart

You are the One Who made me whole

You are the One Who saved me

You are the One Who gave me life

And You, my Lord, You are the One [2x]

Who died for me...

You are the One Who comforted me

You are the One Who filled me up

You are the One Who set me free

You are the One Who loves me faithfully

And You, Jesus, You are the One [2x]

Who found a lost soul like me...

And You, my Lord, You are the One

And You, Jesus, You are the One

Who died for lost souls like me...

You're the One.....

-RRRS 11/02/06