Purpose in the pain

Well, the last couple weeks have been a bit of a transition on the ward. Our plastic surgeon headed home a couple weeks ago, so surgeries for A ward ended (general and maxillo-facial surgeries in the other wards have continued). As a result, most of the patient care that we have been a lot of pain management and dressing changes. This has allowed us to have a lot more time with patients (especially in the evenings after the dressing changes are done). But, at the same time, when you have a ward full of children, you have to provide some good entertainment to keep them from bouncing off the walls.

Last weekend, we had an art contest to see who could draw the best ship. There were quite a few entries and we had some nice pictures at the end to decorate the walls on the ward. In the end, we decided to draw a number with a correlating picture for the winner instead of voting on the best picture (we didn't want to cause any tears from the little guys).

Among other things, we have kept the kids entertained with lots of games, crafts, coloring, movies, and songs. One of my favorite parts of the day is tucking the boys into bed (there are 5 in a row who are between the ages of 5 and 10). Their new favorite song is "Here I am to worship." We sing it together almost every night and then they give me kisses and I make them all lay down and close their eyes to sing them the "goodnight song." It is one of those sweet moments that makes all the hard, frustrating parts of the job so worth it.

There have definitely been a lot of ups and downs over the past couple weeks. Some of the kids despise their dressing changes and just scream through the whole thing. This past week, one of the little boys intentionally peed on me and tried to bite me because he was mad he had to get his dressing change. A lot of the kids also hate their hand exercises, which are very important for regaining full movement in their hands (which were previously contracted from burn injuries). Several of them have thrown tantrums and we have had to really talk to those kids quite a bit about the whole reason we're doing this...we have come across quite a few behavior problems and have had to guide some of the parents in appropriate discipline (sometimes they just threaten to beat the kids which only makes things worse). But, with time and a lot of patience, things are starting to improve and the kids are beginning to understand the reason for why we're doing what we do. We have been able to build up a lot more trust with them as well. It's encouraging to see all the improvement that we've had, even though it has been a slow and painful process. It's interesting that we've been studying patience in our Beth Moore Bible study this past week...I guess God knew that I would need an extra dose of that.

It's interesting when I think about all we've been teaching the kids and what God is teaching me through it. We ask the kids to do painful things like stretching little fingers that don't want to be stretched or taking off bandages that need to be changed. We give them medicine, but we know it is somewhat painful. But, because it's for their good, we tell them they need to do it and ask them to trust us. The same is true with God. So many times, He stretches us and asks us to do things that are painful and unpleasant. We often throw our tantrums and ask God why he is making us do something we don't want to do...all the while, not understanding that it is for our own good. But, as we learn to trust Him as our loving Father, we realize that He allows us to go through uncomfortable circumstances to perfect us and make us more like Him. And in the end, the pain is worth it.

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

 Hebrews 12:11