Following Jesus in Nursing: A Daily Devotional for Caregiversഉദാഹരണം

Take one minute, and breathe in and out slowly. Ask Jesus to make his presence known to you. What is a difficult area of your life where it’s hard to have hope?

Three years after my husband’s severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), I felt hopeless. My once brilliant husband struggled to understand or express basic thoughts. I recalled the many prayers for him, including our pastors offering powerful prayers for healing as they anointed him with oil (James 5:14-15). Well-meaning friends believed my husband would be “totally healed” and return to work as a physician.

Why wasn’t he healed?

I despairingly thought about my husband’s huge servant heart. Unlike some of his peers, nothing was too insignificant for him to do, from cleaning toilets at church to free medical care. Now, he works at a local homeless shelter, making sandwiches and scrubbing floors. Under Divine inspiration, James wrote: “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the church elders to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up” (James 5:14-15, NIV).

Why wasn’t my husband made well?

As I often do in Bible study, I read through different translations of James 5. I read in the English Standard Version, ” The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up,” and in The Message, “Believing prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet.” Then, these words from the Amplified Classic translation leaped off the page, “And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him.” I sensed the Holy Spirit say, “Your husband has always been my servant, I restored him to be my servant.”

A new thought dawned: My husband was restored to be the sweet, loving servant he had always been and is probably now more free than ever to do God’s sacred work. Relief poured over me as a new awareness emerged: God’s healing is much bigger than I can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21). — Grateful for you, Kathy

How would you respond if Jesus invited you to place your ultimate hope and faith in him? What would it take for you to trust Jesus with your life and follow him?

Dear Jesus, thank you for your care for me. Help me feel you with me today. Help me care well for others today in your strength. Amen