Tuesday, May 6, 2008

It's 3 am and I'm awake...

Working the night shift has never been something I have enjoyed. However, there really are people out there who prefer and admit to ENJOYING nights. I cannot understand it. Don't they feel the painful tiredness, the dry, sore eyes, the being so tired you feel almost drunk? Help me understand the late-nighter! I feel like crying for my bed by 4:30am...
In case you haven't guessed already, it is 3am-ish and I am staying up all night minding the hospital. It is a real challenge to stay awake when our census is low like it is now. We have almost as many nurses as patients here tonight which leaves me with very little to do. It seems like it has been feast or famine here for the past month breaking records one way or another!
One thing I did accomplish tonight that has nothing to do with work, was I finished a book I've been reading. I read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. My mother has been telling me about it all my life and I finally gave in and read it. She's right, it was good. I was glad for a quiet evening so I could get done what I needed to and finish it. Corrie wrote about her time in Nazi prisons and a concentration camp during WWII. She also saved the lives of many Jews during the occupation of Holland through her simple faith in God. Amazing story, very encouraging! For those of you who have read it, I would love to start a discussion. For those of you who haven't, get it!

5 comments:

Julie Hedeen said...

I also put off reading that book for years for the same reason. I kind of knew how it ended, and I knew concentration camps were NOT cheery places, and all I wanted to read was books with happy endings. But I saw Corrie Ten Boom on a TV interview, and she was so lively and cute and passionately in love with "my Jesus" as she called him. She always finished a story with the moral "Jesus is Victor!" Sure enough, virtually every chapter had a happy ending! I got such a laugh out of the "thanking God for the fleas" chapter. And I cried with her when she had to have God give her the strength to stick out her hand to shake the hand of the former Nazi prison guard who had found Jesus. And that humble, hardworking family made such a difference in the lives of so many Jews with no where to go. She would say, "I love the Jews. They gave me two precious gifts. My Bible and my Jesus."

Julie Hedeen said...

By the way, her other books are good too!

Kristen said...

Wow. I think I need to find her other books. One thing I really stuggle with is believing that God will really give me the strength I need to endure trials. Silly, because He always has in the past, why would He stop now? I need more faith!

Amber E said...

Hi, I heard that her books were good also. I believe that I read that book ages ago but it has faded from memory. Hope all is well in MN. Amber

Melody said...

I also have read that book (more than once) and have marveled at her perseverance. Then I remember it is not HER perseverance, it is that the Lord gave her the strength she needed to get through the job He had for her.

I think that knowing we cannot handle something makes it all the more glorifying to God when it comes about and we somehow survive it. If we know we can handle things where is the chance for God to "show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chronicles 16:9)

In our weakness He is shown strong. Thank the Lord for that! And I will come and visit you upstairs next night shift, by 1:30 I am pretty tired too...