Hear ye. Hear ye.

Beware of making self challenges after listening to inspiring podcasts.

… and the rest of the story.

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On Sunday, January 32, 2021, I ran to church, thankful that the young maidens of the church had decorated the icons with fresh flowers without my help.

All throughout service, I prayed God give me a chance to make Christ real to someone.  I forgot that God has excellent hearing. In my limited mind, I thought making Christ real was just telling someone about Jesus Christ.

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One hour later, I rounded in the ventilator unit, secretly singing psalms to my patients.

Three hours later, I arrived to the ER for my shift one hour early.

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Upon arrival, the exhausted ER doctor from the previous shift was called away to run 3 code blues in another part of the hospital.  I took over the helm in the ER. The ER was completely full with 4 in the waiting room.  I quickly stitched 3 lacerations and admitted 2 people who had been there for 4 hours. Then a man shot his wife and shot himself. I instructed the paramedics over the phone as to how to insert a chest tube.  The man arrived with blood and brains spewing out both sides of his head.  There was bedlam in the ER with crying family members, unmasked policeman and nurses trying to manage patient expectations while answering frantic phone calls.

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Lord have mercy.  I pronounced the distraught husband dead and commended him to Christ. I pronounced a Covid patient with no family dead and commended him to Christ. I pronounced dead a child in the womb only 9 weeks old and comforted his frightened mother.  I worked steadily for 9 hours, then there was blissful silent and holy peace in the ER.  I believe God answered all my prayers.

– Carla Thomas the orderly