"We are the clay and You our potter" Isa 64:8

I just drove back from Knoxville after a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with all 16 of our crazy clan. The entire drive back I had my WOW Hymns from like the 90’s going. As I sang along and praised God on the way home I couldn’t help but remember how different this drive was just a few years ago. You look forward to going home for so long, then your there for 24-48 hours and then have to turn around and go back. Those drives back could be SOOOOO long and lonely and very depressing. But not this drive. Not because it isn’t just as sad to be leaving my family again, but because my focus was on the God who gave me that family. I was reminded as I drove of the blessing of pain and suffering. Hear me out.  I used to live just down the street from my older sister and her 2 children. We had way too much fun together those two years and were very spoiled. Moving away from them was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I still miss them almost daily. Possibly because I have...

In the wake of all that happened in my life recently as described by my latest post, I had asked for prayers from many people. I wanted to share with you how God has answered those prayers even today.  This past weekend I had the privilege of being at my home church in Powell. To be honest it was difficult to concentrate as I was basking in the wonderful feeling of just being home. Sitting under the pastor that God has used to speak Truth to me since I was first able to Hear, I heard God once again. He was preaching from 2 Corinthians 5:11-17 on “The motivation for a poured-out life.” “Therefore I urge you brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1). “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinth...

Excuse me for a minute while my heart bleeds a little. Sometimes life is hard and it hurts. I’m going to be honest I have let the wind and the waves take over the past few week. But God has gently reminded me that even in the midst of the storm He is there. And not only is He there but He is using the storm to teach me and draw me closer to Him. The point of the storm is not to survive- it’s to meet the savior.  I’m going to be really sore tomorrow, and in the worst way possible. Not because of a great workout, but because I had to crack a kid’s chest today to keep his heart beating. I did it all right. I got the intraosseous line in on my first try and it worked beautifully. I did chest compressions at the right depth with good recoil and at the right rate. We did it all: the Epinephrine, the ventilator, the lines. Yet at the end of it I stood there listening to a mom try to comfort her son over a phone call as his heart was stopping. I did everything I could and yet his hea...

You know that moment when a feeling just comes over you to go talk to someone? You may or may not know why or even what you’re supposed to say but you know you’re supposed to go. That happened to me today.   Thankfully, I listened and went. But just a few days ago I’m not sure that I would’ve listened and that scared me a little bit. It’s no secret residents and physicians alike (as well as nurses and others I’m sure) struggle with burnout. That place where you’ve been working so hard for so long. Things seem the same and you start feeling really underappreciated and maybe even used. We all get there, but how do we get out? In my short time as a resident, it seems this is a never ending cycle. Happy to be there and joyful in the midst of all   the work, tired but still okay, more tired but hanging on, and then nope, I’m done. It’s not like this isn’t a rewarding job. Helping make children better is almost always rewarding as is helping parents understand pathophysiology...