Tears of Joy and Pain

Life comes with joys and sorrows, laughter and pain, life and death.. Many times we want to avoid the pain and sorrow and enjoy the happiness in life. However, it is the painful situations that make us more dependant on God and strengthen us. Through these times God can break us and mould us into something beautiful. 

The past 2 weeks have been filled with joys and sorrows. We have had several births which are joyous occasions for the most part. To be exact we had  4 in 29 hours which resulted in sleepless nights. It sure felt like we had a birthing centre thankfully it has subsided for the past few days. Two of the births coincided which was a lot of fun since both teams of nurses where at the clinic. Whit and I in the one room and Kindra and Mali in the other. We would keep checking on each other to see who was progressing the fastest good times.. 

The four of us nurses with our two babies! 

Other joys included, the smile on a patient's face when you tell them they can go home after being with us several weeks... The excited little boy with his glove balloon I gave him and many more. 

Sorrows also are a part of life but, many times hurt and tear us apart. The first incident was our neighbour man who died in the hospital after his health declined. This was hard for those involved. The second was a 2 week old baby who had not eaten in two weeks. Whit and I did all we could by inserting a NG and giving small frequent feeds.

Inserting the NG tube. 

 After supper, we did not feel comfortable leaving the baby at the clinic for the night. We decided to bring him up to the house. Not long after he peacefully slipped away. It was sad and beautiful at the same time to think of a innocent baby not having to experience all the pain and sorrow of living on this earth. While grieving the shock of the baby dying, I got a message from home that my grandma had passed away. Even though I was expecting the call I was very glad to have Whit with me when I got the message. It hurt so bad. How could this baby have slipped away and now my grandma? I loved them both so much. My heart hurt sleep did not come but I had much time to think and pray. God gave me a beautiful picture of my grandma holding the little baby Whit and I had tenderly cared for it gave me a special sense of peace. I was reassured with knowing that Grandma was safely home where she wanted to be. 

Through the pain God has shown himself strong. Walking to clinic yesterday morning I had to smile at the sight of the many people on the path. Arriving at clinic Fre' Noras asked why I was so happy and I didn't know what to say but, I knew that the joy in my heart is what can help me through the day. 

~ Alyssa