It has been awhile since I have published anything, this is actually my first post for 2018 (I know- why so long), but as usual I am grateful for this opportunity- Now to the meat..lool. I graduated from nursing school with my Bachelor’s Degree in June 2015, and one thing I had heard about was the great demand for nurses. To make quite a tedious explanation short- that is not necessarily the case for every nurse. I took a break after school because I desperately needed one and got my license in either February or March of 2016. I was on the job hunt, for quite a few months until I started working with an agency, who sent nurses into Long-term care facilities when there was a staff shortage. I had been hoping to get a job in a hospital to begin my career but that was not the case- I was not where I wanted to be.
Prior to this my pre-grad placement was not where I wanted it to be either. Again I had wanted my placement to be in the hospital, but again it was in long-term care; which in the end turned out to be very beneficial for me. It was the training I had received during placement that gave me the confidence to apply for a job with an agency. You have to understand that working in long-term care can be extremely tedious and taxing to a new comer, especially one not familiar with any of the common practices expected from each facility. The ratio of patient to nurse can be at least 27:1 , along with paper work, and other administrative details. In the beginning with no prior knowledge of the patients/policies it can be extremely difficult. As I said, I took a chance because I needed a job, and the very knowledge I didn’t want was the knowledge that helped me succeed.
Through the agency I was sent to a location, that began to consistently request me whenever there was a shortage, so after a time I took a chance and submitted my resume, now that is where I work. To say the Lord has blessed me would be an understatement in my eyes, because though I could not see the benefit to many of the steps I had to take, they were building blocks that aided me. Recently I was at work, and I prayed for an extra shift which I got, now I went to work for the money that day, but there was woman there who needed an encouragement and her spirit to be lifted and I was used by God to do just that. In that moment, I was grateful for everything I didn’t want to do, I was grateful for the way God directed my life, because through it all I was there to assist in helping someone who really needed it.
This as I stated before was not where I planned to be but it proved to be, where I needed to be in order to give assistance to someone else. I am reminded of David who was in the field tending to his father’s flock, but was sent on an assignment to deliver food to his brothers. David was on a mission for his father, but his heavenly father had a special assignment for him, that had not yet been revealed (1 Sam. 17). This is how it is for us at times, we are on a journey with our minds set somewhere else, and when we are redirected or rerouted we feel slighted or that we are failing- but what if we are not where we want to be but where we need to be? Sometimes we get so caught up looking at our location, checking our GPS and maps, complaining about the reroute, talking about how broken it all is, instead of seeking to see the best in it.
Reroutes are annoying to us because we have a plan and timeline that is getting messed up, and it becomes even more frustrating when you are late. However like Esther, we can be placed in these moments “for such a time as this”, we can be the one placed in the gap to lend that helping hand, even if it is for five minutes. But as Christians who walk according to the word of God, which is “a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path”, we have to learn to see His hand in our lives. Again to Esther and the salvation of the Jews, if we look at how perfectly organized their salvation was, how wise Esther and Mordecai were, how things just literally- worked out- we cannot help but say IT WAS GOD! AND NEITHER COULD THEY. So my challenge today is this: before you lose your marbles at the reroute, remember who guides you, and then ask- what would you have me do?!
Really: What if you are where you need to be?
Thank you for reading!
Ps: More testomonies to come- my perspective is really being adjusted
Ashley #followerofChrist
