...just trying to chase lions

It's true--I know exactly how many days until I walk across the stage at the Georgia Mountain Center and receive my Bachelors of Science in Nursing diploma: 56!!! This journey to be a nurse began in November of 2005, and will come to completion in less than two months...thank you Lord! This semester has been somewhat surreal; a race to the finish if you will. I notice each day I am in class all the stress and burnout the majority of my fellow students feel, but in all honesty, I'm not one of them. I love what I get to do. I love pursuing this degree to do what God has called me to do and given me an immeasurable passion for. I know with 100% certainty that I would not have made it through even the first year of nursing school if it was not for the passion and purpose God placed in my heart for this adventure. Now, I'm not going to say that I don't get a little irrational and stressed out at times too, but it is nothing to the degree which I used to get stressed out and overwhelmed in the first year at Brenau.

I look back on this past year and simply can't believe how different my life is right now than it was just 12 months ago. This time last year I was still working at Starbucks, freaking out about Med/Surg I and Pharmacology, and simply lost in so many ways. God was digging as deep in me as He possibly could to bring about some major healing that I didn't even know I needed. By July He had done a huge work in me and I can't put it any other way than that I am a new person. I know who I am. I know how to be loved. I am worthy of the best love. The greatest of it all, as related to school, is that I don't stress out nearly as much, but I get much more done than when I used to overly stress. That release allowed me to be open to more relationships and to just do more with my time.

Almost immediately after this "deep dig" through my soul (that's what I like to call it), I met this guy who grabbed my attention. I dismissed him pretty quickly seeing that he was younger than me...and well, I just don't date younger guys. But needless to say there was just something about him I couldn't get past, and long story short, it's been a wonderful 6 months. I have learned so much relationally and have grown as a person in ways I could never do on my own. We (Alex and I) spent a week in Colorado with our friends Matt & Rocio last week:

Matt & Rocio

Me & Alex

That trip was phenomenal and rejuvenated me to sprint to the finish line at school. I begin my Senior Preceptorship at Scottish Rite in the Children's Inpatient Rehab Unit tomorrow. I'm excited about it, and nervous of course, but it is a different area of nursing that I will probably never be a part of in the future, so it will be a great learning experience.

My biggest prayer request right now is about finding a job after I graduate. For some reason I have a huge desire to work at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. I've found a love for Cardiac and hope to get placed in an RN Residency on either a Telemetry Med/Surg Unit or in a more acute cardiac unit. In applying for the RN Residency you have to put your top 3 unit preferences, and I would be happy to work on any of my top 3: Cardiac, Mother/Baby, or Intermediate Care. I continue to seek direction for where God would have me go. He knows what's best for me and I love when I get His best...it's always something I would have never come up with on my own.

Well, needless to say this has been another rambling from the tips of my fingers...

I just can't help but sit back and reflect on this past year and look forward to the unknown of this next season of my life.

Peace.

Posted in: on Friday, March 13, 2009 at at 8:23 AM