Solo a ti sea la gloria, Señor

I recently had the opportunity to speak about my ministry at El Refugio to the senior nursing students at Bethel University during their ‘Nursing Care with Elderly Adults’ class. I shared with them the story of Andres, and I thought that I would post it here for the rest of you as well…

My first time at the home for elderly was the summer after my freshman year in college. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into! Suddenly, I found myself in the middle of a strange city in a foreign country, hardly able to speak the language and knowing nobody. (That’s another whole story about God’s faithfulness to me that summer!) Each day, the family whom I was staying with would drop me off at the home for elderly to “help” – but I really had no idea what I should or could be doing, didn’t know who or how to ask, and felt rather useless. My one assigned task was that of curaciones, or wound care. Unfortunately, my experience as a nursing assistant in a US hospital had not quite prepared me to be the sole wound care nurse for the 30+ elderly that were there at the time! But, glad to have a task to complete each day, I began caring for their wounds in the best way that I knew how.

One of the ancionos whose wound I cared for that summer was named Andres. The picture I will always carry in my mind of Andres is of him sitting somewhere – on his bed, or on a chair in the courtyard or the kitchen – reading his Bible, his finger slowly following along each line on the tattered pages. Andres had very poor circulation in his legs, as well as diabetes, and that combination led to a ulcer on his left lower leg that wouldn’t seem to heal. I tried everything that was available to me that summer – from soap and water to iodine to hydrogen peroxide…even honey (which was recommended to me by a few people in Mexico and since nothing else seemed to be working, I was all for giving this traditional remedy a try!). All summer long, I cleaned and bandaged Andres’s wound daily, but it simply wouldn’t heal.

When I returned to El Refugio two years later for the summer again, Andres was still there and so was his leg ulcer – and if anything, it was worse. Now, with all of the knowledge imparted to me during my first year of nursing school and a large box of donated 3M wound care products, I again began the task of trying to heal Andres’s wound.

This time, when I left at the end of the summer, the ulcer was actually improving, but there was no one to continue the daily dressing changes once I left. I was quite discouraged and felt that I had failed Andres.

Then, about a year later, some friends (whom I had met when a group from their church came to Mexico a few years before) returned from a trip to Tijuana during which they had spent some time at the home for elderly. They showed me pictures, one of which was of a leg with a healed ulcer. The leg looked familiar, but I thought to myself that I simply couldn’t be...

...but sure enough, the next picture revealed that the healed ulcer did indeed belong to Andres!

To this day, I have no idea how that wound was healed, but it doesn’t really matter. I think that if Andres’s wound had healed while I was still in Mexico, I would have mistakenly attributed it to my hard work or "expertise." But instead, God taught me an important lesson through Andres – that while He allows us to participate in his healing work, it is ultimately His work and He is the one who heals. And because of this, it is He who deserves all of the glory. I was reminded that even when I fail and become discouraged, the LORD “will not fail or become discouraged until He has established justice on the earth” (Isaiah 42:4).

I’ll admit that I often forget this, but telling the story of Andres has helped me to remember yet again. I want to practice nursing with excellence because I believe that as a nurse that God has called me participate in His healing work. But when I find myself feeling discouraged or like I have failed one of my patients, I try to remember that my God will not fail or become discouraged. And on those days when I am privileged to participate in someone’s healing, I try to remember to give God the glory.