Yahweh Yireh (The Lord WILL Provide)

The months of March and April have flown by in the Dodd home. I can hardly believe that my last winter semester is done (except for my last two finals next week). I have learned SO much this semester, and I really feel much more confident about my nursing skills. Just 2 semesters, or less than 240 days, left until I am a nurse. One thing, I have really learned that God wants me to be content with where He has me RIGHT NOW. Andrew and I have huge plans for what we believe that God wants us to do in the future, but I’ve learned that I need to be focused on making a difference in the world I am right here in Grandville and nursing school and that this will help prepare us both for His future plans for us.

All this became really REAL a few weeks ago when one of my classmates died. She was a healthy, vibrant 21-year-old who wanted to be a nurse so much, and she is just gone now. There are only 60 of us in our class, so we all know each other, we are together every day. Those 59 other people really understand and know what the struggles and trials of nursing school are...we are experiencing them together...its a little family. God has shown me that I need to stand up and not be quiet about my faith. It breaks my heart that I cannot say that I know where Linzy is spending eternity, and I do not want to say that about my other classmates. I really want them all to see the difference in my life and know what the source of my hope and faith is! I need to be willing and ready to ‘walk across the room’ (book by Bill Hybels that our Pointe Group-church small group- is doing).

I left all of you blog readers last month with the possible externship opportunity that I had at Metro Health Hospital. The externship did not work out with my summer class schedule, but Metro offered me a nursing technician position on their Assisted Breathing Floor. The unit requires that I promise to work for them for at least one year (so after I graduate, I would hire on as an RN on this floor) and I cannot switch to a different floor. Honestly, when I applied and interviewed for the position I thought that this would be a temporary thing until graduation and then I could work on a different floor with different kinds of patients. These patients really are not an area I feel called to care for and they don't really fit me (they are all on ventilators and most of them cannot even talk). I am not passionate about providing that type of care, and they really deserve and need health care providers who are. So, I made the tough decision of turning down the job offer and trusting that God has a different job that would fit me better.

Passion is another area that God has been teaching me about (in my Merea Bible Study). Passion is a gift from God and “it is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, and bounding out of bed because there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at-something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to go at it again today. It is what you do so well that you’d enjoy doing it without pay. Passion is the spark that needs only a little breeze to ignite into a raging fire” (Pathway to Purpose, by Katie Brazelton). I am passionate about a lot of things: my relationship and faith in my Lord and Savior, my husband, my family, church family, HIV/AIDS kids in Africa, nursing, and taking care of people (specifically children) who are sick. I need to pursue and run after these passions that God has blessed me and gifted me with. You should’ve heard me, at the end of my pediatric clinical days, I wouldn’t stop talking about the things I learned, did, and saw. I said to Andrew multiple times: I could do this job every day for free…I loved it and I am passionate about it! That is why I turned down that job, I was not passionate about taking care of ventilator patients, and I know that God will provide another nurse tech that is to that floor.

Four days after I turned down the position at Metro, I got a call from Spectrum Health Hospital. I have persistently applied at this hospital for the past 2 ½ years, probably every other week I sent in my application. I had a phone interview two days later and I was told that I would get a call back within a week if I were to have a second interview with the floor manager. I hung up and 30 minutes later, I got a call from the manager! She wanted to interview me that night!! I felt the interview went well that night, and then I had to wait a week while they interviewed other applicants. I prayed so much this past week, and thank you to all my friends and family who also supported me with prayer! The floor is a great fit for me—it’s the Emergency Room—and I really wanted to work at Spectrum before I graduate so that I can possibly be a nurse there in the future. It is part-time, so it will work with school and it is a nurse technician so it will help prepare me to be a nurse in 8 months. Also, I really feel that ER would help me, more than any other unit, for our future plans of working at Bethesda. I want to sharpen my nursing skills so that I know what to do/ am prepared to nurse in an emergency situation. I have been trusting in God that if Spectrum is where He wants me to be that He will open the doors wide open, but if He doesn’t want me there that He would slam the doors shut.

It has been neat, Andrew and I have been doing a Bible study together called “Praying the Names of God”, by Ann Spangler, and really learning other names (in Hebrew) that God has been called for generations. I completely believe that it is a God Thing that this week’s name was Yahweh Yireh: The Lord WILL Provide. I have really been praying that the Yahweh Yireh will provide this job or provide another opportunity if this job is not the right one for me. Well, I got the call from Spectrum today…The Lord provided me with the job!!! Praise the Lord!! I start May 18th. I am super excited about this opportunity to work with acutely ill patients and refine my nursing skills. Thank you all for praying for me; please continue to pray as I begin the new position!