It was one of those days again, and I guess every mom has them—the days when it seems we should have had nurse’s training before becoming a mother.
Matthan woke with a hoarse whoop and a croak, as is so typical of him when he is starting a cold. I gave him a nebulizer treatment immediately to make him more comfortable.
Alisha did not get up at all. She said her stomach hurt, and later she had a fever. She had obviously caught the flu that was going around.
And that afternoon, Cody came home from school in a rush with blood dripping from his nose. He’s prone to nosebleeds every winter, and this one was fairly bad. I scurried around trying to remember how to doctor a nosebleed like this one. Cold cloth to the back of his neck. Pinch lightly on the bridge of his nose. Sit forward instead of leaning back. Should I be remembering anything else?
The next day I took Matthan to the doctor. He wasn’t that sick, but I had used the last of the albuterol for his treatments the previous night, and he needed to be seen before Dr. Marsha would prescribe more. It was as much to make me comfortable, because I was worried he would need another treatment, and I didn’t want to be without the medicine.
I appreciated the doctor’s gentle manner and her obvious knowledge about all things medical, but especially about little boys whose airways become tight and who find it hard to breathe as soon as a bad cold comes along.
Because I have little or no gift of nursing, I am extremely grateful for the doctors who bring relief to my children when they need it. In such doctors one can catch glimpses of the way God cares for us—his beloved children. We all need a soul doctor in one way or another.
“They that are whole [healthy],” Jesus tells us, “have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).
Jesus wants to heal our heartaches, forgive our sins and stumbles, bandage our errors and missteps. He is the ultimate doctor for all. He has been sent “to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1). In addition to healing broken bodies, Jesus is also skilled at healing broken hearts. No case is too hard for him to handle, and he knows our individual needs. He knows what we need better than we do. Why not give him all the sorrows and sicknesses of our souls? He can make us whole in surprising ways.
| Prayer | Reflection |
| Bring healing to all the splintered and hurting places in my heart, Lord. You are the only one who can know exactly what I need to make me whole in body and spirit. | Is there anyone close to me who needs comfort and healing today? How can I help? |