He Can't Make It...Or Can He?

Psalm 147:3 - "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." [NIV]

“Oh, my God! I had never seen anything like that!” exclaimed one of my co-workers as I was examining a male inmate, brought by the unit deputy.

He was grimacing in pain. He couldn’t sit up straight, complaining of pain coming from his back. He couldn’t sit right. He was trying to not put pressure on the right buttock. With both wrists secured by a handcuff, he kept moaning slightly.

The deputy pulled me aside. He said, “Ma’am, I just wanted you to know, I never hit him anywhere but only to his left forehead and maybe just the stomach area.”

The inmate just got booked and was just housed in their unit. While waiting to be assigned to have his own bed, the inmate rose to his feet and took a stance. Raising both of his fists up, he was going to aim at the deputy. That was a big mistake! The deputy who went to months or years of training for defense, got him first. In no time, the inmate was down on the floor, subdued and both wrists secured right away with a handcuff.

I lifted the man’s shirt on the back. To see where his complaint of pain was coming from. The deputy had a good reason for telling me where he hit the inmate. On the left side of this man’s body, there were 2 huge visible marks, a big welt with severe discoloration. One on the left buttock, close to the hip and one on the lateral side. But I knew it wasn’t caused by a blow. It looked more like an abscess. Lifting the shirt higher, I found 2 more bumps that looked the same as the previous abscesses. One closer to the right hip and where he was complaining of pain the most was coming from the biggest abscess on the right lower buttock. No wonder he couldn’t sit straight!

“Sir, you have to tell me where these infected areas came from! Were you using heroin?”

“Yes,” was the soft reply with a slight shaking of his head, afraid of what was discovered.

“I had someone shoot it into my back! And I use it everyday!” he added.

“Whewww….,” my co-worker uttered when she saw these. “I had never seen anyone shoot heroin into their backs. Those looked awful. I don’t think he’ll change,” she commented.

I sent the man to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment. I would like to believe, too that there was no more hope in his situation. So trapped in the web of heroin use. But so, it would be the same for others, trapped in adultery, other substance abuse, robbery, pornography, and I could go on and on. But you know what…That was us thinking…Humans…So limited with knowledge and understanding. What we wanted to believe wouldn’t be the same for God Who believed in restoration and healing, otherwise. The One Who sent His own Son to die on the cross to set all of humanity free. That is…if we believe. In that truth!

I pray that most of the heroin users I come in contact with, will discover that their false source of peace and comfort and elation from using this illegal substance is only temporary and destructive. True peace and comfort only comes from knowing Jesus Christ! That’s the truth!

The Reason I Wasn't Scared

“Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God, no matter what the danger.” [Thinkexist.com]

“You’re it! Sorry…” uttered the Charge Nurse as I was just arriving at work last night.

“Why?” I asked with a puzzled look.

“I don’t feel good, so I’m going home…”

“You’re ‘it’” meant I would be the Charge Nurse when she planned on leaving. She didn’t look good but she knew the responsibilities she was putting on my plate was enormous last night. She has not been feeling well but chose to come in, only to leave. That was difficult though. Because that would mean that she was shortening our number of staff to only me and just another nurse. Covering the entire correctional facility that housed 3,000 something inmates. That was huge! Not including the other jails in different cities that relied on us for any medical decisions.

I took a deep breath after she gave me the report. Everybody was feeling the tension at first as they knew it wasn’t easy what was being passed on to me. Yet, they saw me accepted it with calmness. I could have gotten upset. But my Big Boss reminded me “to be slow to anger“ [Psalm 145:8]. I could have vented out my complaint of that “being unfair”. But my Boss left a memo in my heart that He would “fight for me and I just needed to be still [Exodus 14:13]. I could have raised a white flag surrendering to the night’s massive piled up workload but my Boss insisted that I “shouldn‘t be afraid for He would help me…” [Isaiah 41:13].

And as promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us, the night went by smoothly despite the mountains of work. Everything was done before our night shift ended. There was a call-off but I managed to re-distribute the day’s staffing and had another nurse float to that facility that needed coverage.

I want to share and remind you, this is the reason why I continue to have courage working in this dark place:


　

Lord, thank You for always being there with me. Thank You for replacing my fears with courage. Thank You for replacing my weakness with Your strength. Thank You for replacing my complaints to gratitude. Thank You for covering me and my workplace with Your peace, despite the chaos I faced, along with my co-workers. Thank You for guiding me with Your wisdom to face those things that otherwise would have given me doubts and confusions. Thank You for giving me discernment to know what was the right attitude versus the wrong attitude. Glory to You Oh Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

For other encouraging posts, please head over to Spiritual Sundays, hosted by sisters Ginger and Charlotte. God bless.

I Can Hear And See You!

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." ~Jeremiah 33:3, NIV [emphasis mine].


He was crawling on the floor. Toward the slightly hidden toilet in a corner where he vomited. As other drunk bodies either ignored his behavior or just didn’t have a clue, too, to what was going on around each one of them. Deputies took turn. To write on the logs to make sure that everyone was okay. And my signature was in each of those logs, too. Writing down my observation. Making sure there were no obvious signs of health problems.

“Are you okay, Mr. M.?” I yelled through a thick glass partition window. He just glanced at me. And gave me a mean look. As if I bothered him to his short journey, moving inch to inch from the door toward that corner.

Then, more arrestees came. I glanced at my watch: “2:30 a.m.” That was the usual time when it would get busy at the prison’s Intake. When officers’ cars would start piling up outside the yard to bring their “arrested males or females”.

I was screening someone when a loud banging started on the glass window.

“Stop it!” yelled one of our own deputies.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!” I looked and saw Mr. M. doing sign language, with his right thumb and index finger, giving invisible puffs to his widely-opened mouth, holding his invisible inhaler.

“Nurse! I need an inhaler!” he yelled.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop banging the window?” yelled the deputy another time.

“Nurse! Nurse! Bam! Bam! Bam!” I just looked calmly and finished questioning the arrestee in front of me. As I got done, I held the others waiting in line and went really quick to talk to Mr. M. who ignored me earlier. Holding an oxygen saturation monitor, the deputy opened a tiny metal door so he could put his fingers out and I took his oxygen level: 97% [which was great!].

“Take a deep breath!” I commanded. There were no audible wheezes.

“Just rest, Mr. M. I’m sorry that I can’t give you an inhaler. You’re obviously not having any asthma attacks and you are to be released in a few hours. It is our policy not to medicate those who are being released…And stop banging on the window. I can hear you and see you!” I explained.

And the banging continued after my assessment. He was mad at me for not giving him an inhaler. He kept calling for my attention when he knew that I already heard him and that I was right there so near to his cell the whole time. As he became more sober, the banging of the window lessened and he became more cooperative. I saw him let out of his cell to gather his belongings. Yes, he was freed. But one of these days, I knew I would hear him call “nurse!” again. He was trapped in the cycle of alcohol abuse. He had forgotten his own medical needs while he enjoyed his drinking. But one day, when caught again, and surely he wouldn’t be having fun locked up without his bottle, that would be the time when he would remember he has asthma.
I could just hear: “Nurse! Nurse! Bam! Bam! Bam!”…

“Lord, forgive us for the times that we forget you when everything is going great in our lives. Then, when things go wrong, that’s when some of us start calling Your Name out loud, wanting Your attention, Your help. Thank You that You are always forgiving, always waiting faithfully for those of us who have strayed so far from You. Thank You for loving us unconditionally. In Jesus’ Name. Amen”

From the video:
Man: “It has passed too much time…since I forgot Jesus…Would He ever listen to me if I call on Him now?…J…e…s…u…s… Jesus..”

Jesus: “My children rejoice! This is the old voice that I’ve wished to listen to so much for a long time…”

Not By Keeping The Law

“Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.” ~ Thomas J. Watson, Sr.


“Rcubes…What are you giving up this year?” asked a co-worker as I was putting the doctor’s orders in the computer.

“Excuse me?” I asked, not quite sure what she meant by that.

“It’s Lent…What are you giving up? Food? Shopping?” intruded another co-worker in our conversation.

“Ohhh…” I said as I finally got what she meant by that questionnaire.

“I gave up everything long time ago to Christ,” I replied. Both of them with a perplexed look, not comprehending then what those words meant.

I kept working and my mind was busy. I was grateful that God had provided a way of salvation. Through Jesus Christ. Knowing that we are all infected by sin. And we cannot save ourselves with our own efforts.

And now, as followers of Christ, we must continue to keep guarding this truth against the temptation of using service, good deeds, giving, and any other effort as a substitute for faith.

“19 For when I tried to keep the law, I realized I could never earn God’s approval. So I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. 20 I, myself, no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.” ~ Galatians 2:19-21