Credo « anyways…

I Have A Job!

June 25, 2008 at 6:32 pm | In Credo, Extra! Extra! | No Comments

I have a job at Happy Hospital.

What a change from yesterday. My wife really helps me sometimes. I sometimes lose faith. But last night, also, I read Luke 22: 32, where it says, “ But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” I felt that someone was praying for me not to lose my faith. I don’t lose faith in Jesus Christ, but I was coming close to wondering why I have faith if my years of work has finally come to a glorious end, but my righteous prayers of being employed were not being answered - instead, hedged up. With the hospital worried about my back and me not knowing if they’ll even have me…it was really hard to wait until today to get an answer. My Manager finally called and said, what’s the problem? Do you think you’ll be able to handle it? I said, yes (of course). So come on in and start on THAT day there. OK, I says. No problem.

We have no money. Literally. I get some on Monday that will vanish as quick as it will come. My first paycheck comes in a few weeks. That will be hard. We are short by a LOT of money. I’m not sure what we’re going to do.

In any case, I start soon and I can’t wait. I didn’t think I could start in a specialty, but here I am beginning in the emergency department. A NURSE! YEAH!

Inspiration - follow-up.

April 11, 2008 at 11:36 pm | In Credo, Glad Tidings, Nursing School | No Comments

I have so much to say and so little awake time to type it all. I am so tired ’cause I got up after 5.5 hours of sleep at 5am this morning. I went to clinical - which was good and I think I might be interested in substance abuse nursing. Then I came home and I’ve been on my duff writing a paper ever since.
But before my duff became a flattened pancake, I checked my mail. I received a surprise. You see, I had helped someone out through inspiration a few weeks ago. My action was seemingly simple and nearly insignificant. This person later told me that it meant more than she could express in gratitude. It helped my testimony of the Holy Ghost and inspiration…and how these things can bless the lives of others.
Well, today it came full-circle in the mail. That’s all I want to say about that. Just know that what she did for our family is beyond words in gratitude. Please…when you’re inspired to do something, don’t just brush it under a rug and forget about it. DO IT! Just follow inspiration. It will be a blessing to others if you do - and maybe to yourself. It was obvious that this person knew just what our family needed - she was close to the Spirit to really heed the promptings. I was brought to tears when I saw that parcel in the mail - it was a perfect way to remind me of all the blessings I have in my life. It helped with my bad attitude.
My attitude was better today. I learned about how attitude is everything today. I’ll have to blog about that later.
Bryce: thank you for your words today. I will reply when sleep is more abundant.
I finished my paper tonight.
Off to Stake Conference tomorrow…and a new Stake Presidency.

Upper

April 10, 2008 at 5:09 pm | In Credo, Family, Glad Tidings, Nursing School | No Comments

I was feeling down today. More on that later. I came home from clinical and all I had the energy of mind, body and spirit to do was sleep. I went to sleep. Before that, I told kim of my woes. An hour later the whole family came up here and sang me three songs, How Gentle God’s Commands, I Stand All Amazed and Be Still My Soul. Thank you family! You’re great! I love you and now I feel much better.

Press On

April 9, 2008 at 12:01 am | In Credo, Fuss, Glad Tidings, Nursing School | No Comments

This morning I realized that I needed to work on my nursing process paper, right? So I was looking for my paperwork for the patient (I’m really tired, so bear with me…I just need to get this out of my head so I will remember it forever). In looking for my paperwork in my records, I came across paperwork I handed into a previous clinical instructor. I didn’t really like her. This paperwork was something she required each week. It was your responsibility to write a DARP note on a patient. I typed mine out, but forgot to type my name. In a hurry, I handwrote my name…”Mike Smith”. She, of course, bled all over the page in her red ink with all the little things she wanted me to improve on. One thing she bled on was my name. She said, “Is this how you sign your name for official documents? What is your title? Do you know?” I saw that today and I thought, “shut up. That’s not what this exercise is for!” Well I still think that note was excessively negative. We know our name and title. The exercise was not to demonstrate our ability to sign our name and declare our title. It was about writing in DARP format. It just fell in line with her style of teaching…find everything negative and then point it out to the student. Next, let’s see if we can make him feel about 2″ tall. Finally, I’ll show off my knowledge and really give it to him by teaching him a thing or two while I’m at it. That’s how I felt what she commented on with my name.
Well, I often have feelings like that. Negative. Like when I started this paper (today, I know) I felt, “Oh no, another paper to write. Boy that’s a lot of work. I hate sitting for that long. It’s so tedious.” Then I turned it around and thought about what Donna said: “Success is in the Journey, not in the destination.” I wanted to make this day a success by seeing the journey and loving it. Instead of complaining and murmuring, I decided to make it a happy day. I decided to love learning about gallstone pancreatitis. You know what? It worked! I spent all day on the paper. It’s not done. I did, however, learn a lot about the subject and how to care for the patient. I spent twelve hours so far and I’m now working on nursing diagnoses. It’s a wonderful thing to critically think like this and learn so much. I wish I had time to learn like this. I called Kim and told her about these thoughts. She pointed out that Heavenly Father was the one who blessed me with this neat jewel. The Lord made my burdens seem light today. I made it this far…we’ll work together to make it the rest of the way! So I was listening to conference talks on my way home and was reminded about a few things. 1) I need to work on learning how the atonement helps me through things even if it is not sin-related. 2) The Lord blesses us when we are in His service. 3) “This is not my season” for many things…but my season is coming soon…graduation! 4) Our traditions need to be Heaven Focused.

Oh - I am done nursing process paper writing for the day. I am not done writing the whole paper.

Master of the Vineyard

April 6, 2008 at 9:52 pm | In Credo | 1 Comment

So much of this conference was simply follow up from recent experience in my personal scripture study. Here are some of my thoughts.

I listen to a lot of talks, scriptures and the like on my iPod. I heard such things as david and goliath, the bible, prophets and the spirit of God in just the last week and at conference I had those things declared unto me again. One thing I would like to highlight is what happens in Jacob 5 of the Book of Mormon. It talks of the Master of the Vineyard (Jesus) and the Servants in the vineyard (the Prophets). The Master wanted to hew down the vineyard (essentially the inhabitants of the earth - Israel at the time, but all of us) because the vineyard had become corrupt. In other words, the people needed to repent. But the Lord was willing to scratch all that and start over. However, the Servant pled with the Master and the Master decided to wait a little longer and nourish the vineyard. I read in Helaman for family scripture study and there was Nephi pleading with the Lord with a plan to help the wicked people repent and turn to the Lord their God. I wonder how much our prophet dear in this dispensation pleads with the Lord. I wonder. He told us to pray for him and that he will pray for us. This is just one of the things I noticed in conference.

I saw another theme - serve and love the individual. There were so many examples of this, but President Monson is such a good model of such a thing.

The humanitarian efforts of the Church were impressively reviewed for us in the Priesthood Session. What an inspired work! We reach out to those in need…this is such an act of service.

When priesthood work is to be accomplished, the sacrifice and blessing of the family is indescribable. What a blessing it is to be a priesthood bearer. What a blessing it is to be an instrument of the Lord’s hands. I do not boast in this, but am thankful that it happens.

I learned that salvation is a personal endeavor, but exaltation is a family work. Thank you Kim for being so interested in Family History lately.

Now, the last thing I wanted to mention about conference today was Elder Holland’s talk. He addressed a big stumbling block for many christians investigating the Church. This was about how john the revelator (in Revelations 22)states that we aren’t to add anything to this book. His words were wise and awesome! I will post a link to his talk when it is available online.

I feel that my recent experiences have been for my good. The experiences have been nursing school, family difficulty and successes, spiritual lessons and experiences alike. I do not know for which purpose I am being prepared. I just know that I need to take it all in, learn from them and incorporate the lessons so when I am called up by the Lord, I will be ready. Yah…I’ll work on that.

The Master of the Vineyard has been planning, nouring and pruning about. His are eternal purposes to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. All the servants (including President Thomas S. Monson) are about their Master’s work. The Spirit of God like a fire is burning. The Spirit of Elijah is brooding. The work is moving forward.

Creating Peace

April 3, 2008 at 10:04 pm | In Credo, Nursing | No Comments

I found this quote on my fridge. It is about creating peace. I am a nurse and realize that we as nurses must work within a framework and timeframe. But therapeutically speaking, patients need to empty their hearts. We can assess their needs, but for patients to be helped (truly) we can show caring and compassion by giving them this opportunity.

As a spiritual leader - one who is a home teacher, father and husband…this is also very important. For the spiritually well or sick…for the physically ill or fit…listen and really feel the emptying of one’s heart…

The secret of creating peace
Is that when you listen to another person,
You only have one purpose:
To offer the opportunity
To empty his heart.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Emergency Preparedness / Conservation

April 2, 2008 at 3:32 pm | In Credo, Gist, Nursing | No Comments

Here are some resources from today’s lecture on Emergency Preparedness, pollution and conservation. It includes things about disaster nursing. Enjoy!
Conservation International: Neat ways to calculate your impact on the environment.
CDC: Emergency Preparedness: The Centers for Disease Control’s Emergency Preparedness Website
Maine Emergency Management Agency: Maine specific Disaster Plans
LDS Emergency Preparedness Information: An in depth look
Family Home Storage:
Basic LDS instructions on family preparedness
Food Storage - Lay up in store: An LDS perspective on an important aspect of emergency preparedness
72-Hour Kits: About
CDC Emergency Preparedness Kits

LDS Humanitarian Services: The Lord’s Way of helping with disasters, widespread human issues

A Quote:

We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value.

Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Ensign, May 2004, 7

Love and Forgiveness

March 31, 2008 at 11:53 pm | In Credo, Natter | 1 Comment

I listen to the series The Writer’s Almanac on NPR. I really enjoy listening to the varied verse and prose they dig up. Garrison Keillor has an extraordinary presence on the radio. His voice is soothing, deep and always inviting.

The show is available on podcast and I download it daily. I am usually too busy to listen to it when it is aired. Lately, the podcast version of the show has been supported by the organization called Love and Forgiveness. Visit them at www.loveandforgive.org. It is an initiative by the Fetzer Institute. I have looked over the web site. It is very nice and talks about how we can show love for others. They have a “letting go” section to help us let go and forgive others. Very interesting.

Here’s what President James E. Faust says about the Healing Power of Forgiveness.

Inspiration

March 25, 2008 at 3:33 pm | In Credo | No Comments

Listening to: One Heart In the Right Place from the album “One Heart In the Right Place” by Michael McLean

Isn’t it nice to know that the Spirit can inspire you to act? So many times in my life I get prompted by the Spirit. I act on the promptings; yet sometimes I fail to. Sometimes it is because I don’t readily recognize that it’s the Spirit talking and requesting my action. Like this weekend on Sunday. I wanted to send out some thank-yous to several people. I had such a wonderful Sunday and I had so many people to thank. That gratitude was prompted by the Spirit. I felt inspired to write a few people. I did it and sent the cards out.

Well, I just got a phone call from one of those recipients. She told me that she was so thankful for my kind words. Not five minutes after her pleading prayer of hope my card arrived. Her prayer was answered when she read the card and she felt much better all day. Thank you Heavenly Father for reminding me that so much of what comes to me in the day is your guidance. Thank you for allowing me to be an instrument in your hands to bless the lives of others. So many times I don’t see the result of my following the Spirit’s direction. So many times I don’t see the way my actions affect another - for good or bad. It’s always nice to get feedback and be a part of the big picture. Sometimes the strokes of the master’s paintbrush go unnoticed, rejected for something of naught. But I’m here to tell you that each color, stroke and texture of every square inch of the canvas is beautiful and magnificent - a masterpiece. They all add up to a priceless panoramic portrait.

I am not boasting here. I am sharing. I was moved by her phone call. Isn’t it nice to have things come back to you?

Family Council

March 23, 2008 at 11:09 pm | In Credo, Family, Nursing School | No Comments

We held a family council tonight. It was about the fact that I have 7 weeks left in nursing school. I could pass or fail, depending on how much and hard I work at it. It will be up to me, but I can’t do it without the family’s support. There have been a lot of sibling rivalry and a bit of trouble with one of our kids. We wanted to drive home that their behavior affects all aspects of our family life. Their relationships and my school alike. If they do their part with chores and keeping the Spirit in our home, then it is more likely we will enjoy success. If they don’t do their part, it may pull me down with them. We don’t want to sink our ship. I’ve handed much of everything in the home to the rest of the seven people in my family. If they can’t keep up, I told them that I may have to stay closer to school (like at a friend’s house or hotel or something) so I can focus and pass. They all fell silent. They seemed to feel the importance of it all. It’s important because I need to support my family. I can’t do it if I don’t pass. More importantly, I need to start serving patients. I am no good to them if I can’t pass this semester. I got into this to provide for my family, yes, but I also got into it because NURSING IS MY PASSION (besides my family). They were agreeable. We discussed not fighting, doing chores, etc. But we also discussed ways we could be spiritually in-tune so we can function and raise our family up. These are things we DO instead of avoid. Prayer, daily scripture study (showing up for it on-time, too), achievement days, Family Home Evening, Sunday meetings at Church and personal prayer and scripture study. Go family! Go mike! I can do this! With my family and the Lord behind me, I know I can do it! I know they’re both behind me. I feel it.