God is so faithful.
I could just leave it at that. That pretty much says all I want to say. But I want to tell you why so that you know He's faithful, too.
I have been incredibly blessed in that I have not had to work on Sabbath ever since I started my new job at the end of September. Unfortunately, I knew that trend would not last. Working as a nurse is wonderful in many ways, but it also has its downfalls, and one of them is having to work weekends and holidays.
I had to work night shift this past Friday night through Saturday morning, and as I was preparing to go in to work that night, I kept thinking how much I wished I didn't have to go to work because I really needed my Sabbath rest. I read my Bible and then began to have my prayer time, and I thought, "You know what? I do not need to have this kind of attitude going into work." I didn't want to start my shift with a negative attitude because I didn't want to be spreading a negative influence to other people I would encounter, especially not on the Sabbath when we are supposed to receive and be a blessing. So I prayed for God to change my attitude. I asked Him to help me to be a blessing to those around me, and I asked Him to help me maintain a positive attitude and keep the Sabbath as best I could while at work.
I then exercised, took a shower, ate, and packed a meal for work in record time. I managed to leave for work ahead of schedule (something that never happens, and especially not after having so much to do in so little time), and amazingly enough I was not stressed or upset at all on the way to work despite there being quite a bit of traffic and getting stuck behind a few slow drivers. I even managed to enjoy watching a gorgeous sunset as I drove. I felt like my Sabbath was already off to a good start.
As soon as I got to the pod I'd be working in for the night, I saw that there had been a new admission that just came in at 6:25 pm-- right at shift change. The other night shift nurses and I discussed who would take which babies, and I volunteered to take the new admission and someone else would take the next admission since our pod was going to be the first to get new admissions for the night. I realized at that point that it was probably going to be a busy night, and I felt uncertain about what I was getting myself into. But I had determined that I was not going to let anything deter me from having a positive attitude and enjoying my Sabbath. I said a quick prayer and took report on my two babies.
Things were very busy. Almost everything had been done for the new admission except for giving a few medications, filling out tons of paperwork, and shortly after dayshift left, we had to put the baby on bubble CPAP because he was grunting and retracting. One of the other nurses also got an admission not too long after our shift began. My podmates helped me and the other nurse get things done on our admissions, and by the time my shift was halfway over I was caught up and things had slowed down some. At that point I stopped to reflect a little bit and realized that despite all the stress of the evening, everything had gotten done (and done well), I hadn't felt stressed out at all, and I still had a positive attitude.
The rest of the shift went by without much event. I left work and went to see my boyfriend briefly before going to my house to sleep. When I woke up Saturday evening, I was saddened to think that I had slept away most of the day and hadn't really gotten to enjoy worship or fellowship on Sabbath, and I had to go back to work again that night. But God wasn't done blessing my Sabbath.
My housemates had planned a get-together at our house to give a quilt we had helped make to one of our friends who is recovering from her battle with esophageal cancer. When everyone had arrived, we sat down in the living room and sang hymns. Songs of heaven and of trusting in God. I soaked it up and thanked God for reminding me of His goodness, and I thanked Him for my Sabbath blessing.
