Business Of Caring

'As nurses we are in the business of caring but who cares for us?', said Joanna, the Singapore Nurses' Christian Fellowship (SNCF) staff worker to me at our first meeting when I met her over fruit juice at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).

Those words reverberated in my tired mind after a day of monotonous lectures and a difficult group discussion and all I could think about was a perk-me-up in the form of a strong cup of coffee, or an afternoon nap. I fought to listen to Joanna’s vision to reach out to the nurses in Singapore with the gospel. I tried to fathom why this intelligent, petite lady would quit a promising job as Senior Staff Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital to spend time with students like myself. We met up on a regular basis to chat about our lives, our walk with God and very often, I sought her for advice to deal with my frustrations of student life.

Through Joanna, I saw Jesus Christ who was sensitive to the needs of social rejects like Zacchaeus. This act of love resulted in Zacchaeus repenting from dishonesty and freed from a life of sin.

Nurses have their own needs and they are in the business of meeting the needs of their patients. Did the patient respond to the fleet enema? Who is going to change diapers? What time can the student go on break?

God’s vision for SNCF was beginning to unravel as more of the Christian student nurses began to have a burden for the their classmates and started getting together to pray.

We discussed a plan to hold a camp in June to commission new Christian nurses into the mission field of nursing and a mentoring program for fresh nursing graduates.

Nurses are special people because God hass placed his gift of healing and the love of people in them. But in order to carry out their calling for life, nurses need the Giver of love to do so. Will you receive God’s gift of love and healing?

Nurses need to be cared for – Jesus, the good shepherd cares for nurses.

Charlene Lim