It is with an overwhelmingly joyful heart that I get to share the testimony of a lifetime...

The Sunday before Easter my world came crashing down as my parents delivered the news that I had been wait listed for the nursing program at Georgia State. I was hurting, feeling as though God was no longer in control and that I had missed His purpose and plan for my life. Graduating in just a few short weeks with NO plan for tomorrow. My job and housing in Milledgeville would remain intact until the end of July but then the unknown burdened my life like the spance of the ocean. Looking off into the horizon there was a dim future, one I had not imagined. Little did I know that in the midst of my tears of sorrow and doubt God was preparing the way for me...

M. Cagle, family friend, called that same Sunday extending an invite to Easter brunch. This was uncharacteristic because for the Cagle's Easter was always a family occasion. Mom of course accepted the invitation graciously. M. Cagle during her invite mentioned that her aunt the Deen of students at Mercer Atlanta and former RN would be at brunch as well. To M. Cagle, who had no idea of the struggles I was going through with nursing school, she simply thought good conversation would flow through the group.

After a brief introduction Dyes, Deen at Mercer, and I were deep into conversation about my passion for nursing. I went into detail about my struggles and my disappointments. My dad stood close by almost acting as my wing man (Thank you dad for your silent encouragement, for your questions at all the right moments, and for your never ending confidence in my abilities!) supporting and leading the conversation into even deeper bowels. Dyes was an incredible encouragement, reminding that perseverance is key to obtaining the goal. Little did I know that Dyes was providing me with a jewel. Vines a coworker and friend of Dyes is the Director of Admissions for nursing at Mercer. Dyes gave me Vines' email address and told me I should contact her with the information I had told her today. An email turned into a phone call, which turned into an application process, which led to God opening the door He wanted me to walk through...

"CONGRATULATIONS! You have been accepted into the nursing program at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University for the semester FALL 2009. You have the opportunity to become part of a distinctive tradition of nursing."

This all happened within a matter of about three weeks...God is so incredible...His timing perfection.

The coolest part to me about this incredible act of God in my life is that through it all someone else was being just as blessed if not more blessed than I was. M. Cagle was responding to a tug on her heart by the Lord when she invited us for brunch. At the time NO one except the Lord new about the events that would unfold. As I tearfully told M. Cagle of my acceptance into nursing school there was silence on the other end of the line. Finally I could hear the soft russell of a woman with tears streaming down her face. Tears like those shed by the woman washing Jesus' feet. They were tears of remembrance of who He is, tears of a thankful heart, tears to testify. M. Cagle needed this blessing from the Lord, she needed to be used by Him in a mighty way. Thank you M. Cagle for being so willing to answer the call of the Lord. You were not just a pawn in the eyes of the Lord but a willing vessel to be used by the King.

"I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Today is another day...

Today is another day, a day filled with hope in what seems like a hopeless point in life. Hopeless may not be the best word because in reality the world lays at my fingertips just waiting for me to grab hold and conquer what lies ahead.

Easter Sunday in all its overwhelming glory brought about a renewed since of perseverance in my life. As I stood in the kitchen of close family friends and met some of their extended family God paved the way for hope to be restored. The quiet conversations, the laughter, the popping of champagne bottles filled the background noise of a conversation that might just change my future. CCD the dean of students at Mercer Atlanta listened intently as I poured out my heart about my passions and my disappointments. Her words simple encouragements with one large grain of hope...the email address of the director of admissions for Mercer nursing school. An email later, a phone call, and one incredible God opened the doors for me to apply for the Fall '09 nursing program at Mercer.

The future is still uncertain but just as in Lamentations 3 where Jeremiah reminds us that the sorrows of yesterday bring the hope of today!

I can look back on yesterday and see all the Lord has done and know that his faithfulness is new EVERY morning. He hears our cries and answers but just as our parents for so long have heard our cries and answered it's not always the answer we desire.

I've not been guaranteed entrance into Mercer and have not even been given a false hope on human terms but on the terms of my Heavenly Father I am given hope through remembrance.

I have spent the last five years...

Nursing Essay
I have spent the last five years realizing that the healthcare community needs a dedicated staff that are not just working for a pay check. My college career began on a one way track to medical school but a couple of years in I realized being the doctor was not all it was cracked up to be. I found that most of the time doctors had little interaction time with the patient and that the day in and day out work was left up to the nursing staff. As I spent hours in the hospital doing what I thought was shadowing doctors, I soon realized that I was actually shadowing the nurses. These hours redirected my one-way path to medical school onto a slightly different path to nursing school.
Biology has opened my eyes to the world around me in an entirely new light. It has made me look at life systematically and question the things around me. My BS in Biology was my first educational goal but it was never my only goal. Throughout the last five years I have longed to learn about the body and all that it encompasses. Becoming a registered nurse is only the first step in a bigger plan for me.
Since before I can remember I have been passionate about serving people, so when it came time to decide on a career path I wanted something that would marry my passion for serving with my desire to work. Healthcare was the answer. Initially I did not know to what degree this would be, but as the years have unfolded I have found myself longing for more and more healthcare education. Although I have enjoyed my time as biology major, I am inspired to learn about medicine. When I’m in the hospital, or working at Dr. Garnto’s office, I am like a sponge just longing for someone to drop even an ounce of knowledge on me that I can soak in. Education brings knowledge, and knowledge brings quality service.
I have had the great honor of working alongside two nurse practitioners at the Compassionate Care Clinic in Milledgeville, GA. This clinic is a nurse-conceived, nurse-led primary indigent healthcare clinic funded by the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. These nurse practitioners have instilled in me the desire to achieve more and to raise the bar high. They have allowed me to talk through patient’s primary complaints to begin to determine diagnosis and plan of action, teaching me how to think like a provider. Through formal training by a phlebotomist I have acquired the skill sets necessary to draw blood on patients of all ages, varying in body habitus. Also through time spent working with these nurse practitioners I have been able to dip my hands into the vast world of pharmacology. We have discussed the pros and cons of differing blood pressure, insulin, cholesterol, and psychiatric medications determining which is best for the individual patient allowing my pharmaceutical knowledge to grow. All of these individual things draw me into the field of nursing and even more so inspire me to go beyond registered nurse to nurse practitioner.
Working at the Compassionate Care Clinic has rekindled my desire to serve the underprivileged, especially those in third world countries. I have been around the world and back serving the Lord in all capacities but medicine is my link from the physical to the spiritual. Medicine opens up opportunities to enter people’s lives in a truly honest capacity; relating their need for physical healing to the spiritual and physical healing of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. Mountains Beyond Mountains is a book that portrays the life of Paul Farmer, M.D. In this book the author describes how Dr. Farmer spends four months a year as a professor at Harvard medical school and the rest of the time in Haiti working around the clock at Zanme Lasante, a healthcare system serving over 100,000 in its catchment area. Dr. Farmer inspires me to take hold of my love and call for missions and go to any extreme to see it come to fruition. Nursing school is the first step in achieving my ultimate goal of bringing healthcare to those without.

The twist and turns of life...

The twist and turns of life are inevitable, lacking in preidctability.

What comes next is the question that lingers on the mind of every individual crossing the stage of their college graduation. In my mind I always believed it would be nursing school but God must have other plans or at least other plans for this moment in time.

I've struggled with the disheartening emotoins of rejection and embarrassment as the door for nursing school has not YET been opened. I use YET because I know where my passion lies and that in God's timing he will give me the desires of my heart, i have only to be patient.

Spring Break '09...

Spring Break '09 was just another day at the office but with some added spontaneous moments. I had planned to spend Tuesday night in Macon with my dear friend racequ for dinner and some cherry blossom festivities. I got off work on Monday and called racequ to catch up and plan events for Tuesdays when she said that she was going to see Slumdog Millionaire with my double mint twin who I had not seen in quite some time. On a whim I decided to spend my evening with friends, spontaneous I know but a good change for me! The movie was not what I expected but blew me away in its ability to take me on an emotional roller coaster. We walked out of the movie, which by the way we were the only three people in the theater, to an almost empty parking lot. Chatting away we saw an unidentified male take trash out of his car and put it on the ground...

this does not make me happy...

so I decided that we should teach this young couple a little lesson...(in hind site I should have taken the trash and thrown it away because I am sure it just ended up scattered around the parking lot but none the less I thought it might make them think the next time they decide to litter)

So spring break '09 started out with little potential for anything fun or exciting but with a little spontaneity a week of fun began!

Tuesday night turned into an exciting time when Mr. inc., one of my dear friends invited to join me on my Tuesday night Macon journey, told me that he a secret love for sea lions. This came as a surprise for a couple of reasons:

#1 he is in his 20's

#2 who even knows about sea lions?

He later explained to racequ and I that when he lived in California there were some near him and he went to see them a lot or something to that extent. Anyway so knowing his love for the sea lions we decided that we would go and see the sea lions at the Cherry Blossom Festival, they were surprisingly a fairly popular attraction.

We then ate dinner at a quaint little Italian place in downtown Macon, the food was good and the company was wonderful!

So all in all spring break '09 was one spent watching friendships blossoms as time was spent with these extraordinary people!