Fanning the Flame
Volume 17, Number 2 Spring 2000

Article Summaries

Editorial-When the Going Gets Tough by Judith Allen Shelly
Many nurses are struggling in the workplace, as they become increasingly secular, economically driven and impersonal. Where do we find the strength to keep going in nursing? We can get help by looking at the life and teachings of the apostle Paul. Shelly suggests that the scriptural key is to keep our eyes on Jesus, and she gives us some practical ways to do that.

Lighting the Lamp by Barbara Pesut
Inspired by her nursing students and Ann Bradshaw's book Lighting the Lamp, Pesut outlines some principles that can help us to stay connected and keep the lamp lit in nursing: Refuse the idol of efficiency, remember the value of each individual and restore yourself. Pesut thinks we can keep nursing's lamp lit by revisioning our practice as a covenant and meeting the challenges that come one day at a time, one step at a time and one individual at a time.

Not Just a Nurse (a free-verse poem) by Shirley E. Spears
This paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, the Love Chapter of the Bible, is couched in nurses' language and experience. Unless God's love is seen in the nursing care we give, at the end of our careers, we will have been "just nurses."

Nurses Christian Fellowship®: Building Community by Diane Stegmeir & Jane Hall
These NCF staff workers make a strong case for the need of Christian support groups for nurses, whether students or graduates, and give illustrations of individuals in whose lives "community" has made a big difference. The four necessary components for the functioning of a good group are: nurture, worship, community and outreach/missions. A "Suggested Reading" sidebar outlines some helpful print resources for those who want to get groups going in their areas.

Finding Strength to Face Breast Cancer by Sandy Rensvold
This is a profile of the life and ministry of Rosemary Maresca, RN, who sees her work as a breast-cancer specialist as a spiritual gift. Rosemary is the focal point and support person for all the breast cancer patients at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, California. She counsels the patients and families and coordinates their care and appointments from the moment breast cancer is a possibility through breast surgery, reconstructive surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and follow-up visits as long as the patient and family desire. Without the Lord's help, her job could be overwhelming.

Spiritual Dehydration: Diagnosis & Treatment by Carrie M. Dameron
Using examples of frustrated, stressed nurses, the author takes us to the source of living water: Jesus. She discusses the rubber stoppers that plug the flow of Christ in our lives: sin, busyness and the quality of our relationship with Him. She then looks at the life of Jesus for clues to handle the pressures we face.

Does God Heal Today? by Marcia L. Denine
Since childhood Denine has wrestled with the miracles described in the Bible. After attending a healing service conducted by the Order of St. Luke, the Physician, she came to realize that Jesus healed because he had compassion and mercy for those who suffer-and because He is God. Denine's personal experience of God's touch for relief of intense neck and shoulder pain has led her to pray more fervently than before for God's healing of her patients.

"Who, Me? Codependent?" Developing Healthy Relationships by Kamalini Kumar
Kumar counsels nurses to find the balance between a healthy bonding with others and being codependent. The types of codependents described are: martyr, critic, needy child, rebel and saint. Strategies for change include: finding safe, uncritical relationships; becoming aware of resistance to intimacy; taking risks with emotional issues; allowing ourselves to feel the need for closeness; beginning to forgive; and allowing for others' mistakes. Kumar helps us to set necessary boundaries or spiritual property lines.

I Can't Fix It! Confessions of a Rescuer by Betsy Dill
The author sees nurses, and others in the healing professions, as natural rescuers who feel responsible for the world's troubles--in other words, "playing God." She cautions us to be aware of the subtle manipulations by others that cross our personal boundaries, leaving us exhausted. Healing and peace come through recognizing our ultimate helplessness and dependence upon God.

You Are Beautiful by Laura D. Winstanley
This student nurse describes her clinical day of following her patient through the pre-op, surgery and post-op experiences-and how it affected both of them deeply.

Stop Struggling by Richard Maffeo
Maffeo has an experience as a surgical patient that makes him more aware than ever of his total dependence on God.

Footsteps on a Rocky Path by Anna M. Garber
This view of treatment of both tuberculosis and mental illness from the '40s is in sharp contrast to nursing care today. But the author gives glory to God for all she learned along the way.

Emma & the Med Error by Jennifer L. W. Fink
After administering antibiotics to a patient with a stated allergy, this RN was discouraged and ready to quit. But through a "coincidental" conversation with a godly patient, she understood the biblical concept of forgiving herself.

A Strange Premonition by Arlene Centerwall
Even in the midst of a hectic schedule at work, if we stay tuned to God, He can communicate with us-sometimes in lifesaving ways! Centerwall describes such an experience.

The Gift of an Hour by Penny Gillett Silvius
When her dad died, Silvius couldn't believe the peace she experienced. But then she realized it was directly connected to the wonderful conversation she had had on spiritual matters shortly before his death.

Last Chance? by Joy C. Wolski
While caring for a frightened terminally ill patient, Wolski felt God prompting her to speak to him about his eternal destiny. She was able to explain about God's sacrifice for sin and felt in her heart that he had heard and understood, though outwardly he didn't indicate acceptance. When he died, she praised the Lord for the opportunity He'd given her.

Commendation and Caution by Phyllis S. Karns
While praising Wolski for sharing her faith, she cautions nurses about imposing a faith discussion on a vulnerable client and reminds us that salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit. She agrees with Wolski that we must be sensitive to His leading regarding witnessing to patients.

Questions to Ask by Patricia D. Kissell
Further responding to Wolski, Kissell wonders how we as Christian nurses would react if the student were a Mormon, a Muslim or a Jehovah's Witness sharing her beliefs with a dying client. She also questions whether a patient so close to death could comprehend the details about Christ's death and resurrection and urges students to be sure they are led by the Holy Spirit and not by personal need (to share).

Sacred Memories by Heather D. Greene
Greene, a nurse in a long-term care facility, describes her experience of being with Lucy in her final hours and minutes. Greene feels close to God when she is with a dying patient and considers those memories to be holy ones that can make her more caring and compassionate.

Seeing God's Plan Unfold by Connie Thomas Hunt
Hunt describes her journey in various positions in nursing and how God gave her experiences of being able to offer spiritual support to patients. She says, "I love to see the wounds heal, spiritually and physically, and my patients merge back into life with a stronger character." Her love of God has given her a love of nursing.

Remembering Miss McBride by Marynell Wallace
Wallace takes us on her winding journey from childhood into a nursing career. One strong influence was Miss McBride, the stern but tender nurse she met as a patient on the pediatric ward and again later as a teen nurse's aide on the same unit. The author sees nursing service as a "walk with God."

Front Row Seat on Life by Betty Syverson
Syverson's fifty years as a nurse has given her a variety of experiences in many different places in the U.S. She has seen amazing changes in technology and philosophy of nursing. But she realizes that her love for nursing "has come not from glory moments or dramatic rescues but from the genuine satisfaction of attempting to be the hands of Christ to those we serve."

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