Sunday, June 23, 2013

It has been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. I can't believe my trip to China was that long ago. This time last year I was learning Chinese and loving on babies. And now, a year later, I'm in Chicago, IL. Sometimes, I sit back and reflect on God's sovereignty in my life and its mind blowing. How he has led me step by step until now. The doors that were opened and the ones that were closed all to lead me here. If you don't know, I am interning this summer for 16 weeks at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in their child life program. I am about to start my fourth week tomorrow. It is crazy how fast time is going. But really, the thing that has me reeling today is God's plan ad purpose in my life. I went to Moody Bible Church this morning. A church that I would have not known anything about, nor would I have ever ventured to go there, if it wasn't for several different (not connected) people who mentioned Moody and that I needed to go. First off, how crazy is that. People heard I was going to Chicago and they mentioned Moody. Not one single other church was mentioned to me, and you know there are tons of other great ones here. Only Moody. So, today I went to the service. The sanctuary is gorgeous, but that's not the part that had me so captivated. It was the different people. Every ethnic group, race, and people were in that room. People with so many different backgrounds and native languages, people who probably sacrificed their families to come to faith in Christ. I cried throughout the worship today. I couldn't stop the tears. It was beautiful because it is how it will be in heaven. Every tribe and nation singing praises to God. The only other time I have gotten chocked up in a service like that was when I was in China. When I was so captivated by those people who were sacrificing everything to worship God. We are so lucky here and I have always taken for granted our freedom to worship. So, today being captivated once again by our unbelievable savior, it brought me back to China and it brought me back to this blog.

I also realized this morning how God had orchestrated all of this. I applied to tons of internships and this is the one I got. I have been trying to figure out why that is. Why Chicago? And I have realized a few things. One, I know no one here. The lord is teaching me to rely on him and find my worth in being his child, not in the friends I have. I have never dealt with true loneliness before. Yes, there have been times growing up. But never anything like this. But, the lord is teaching me and I am finding myself so thankful for the friendships that I have. The friendships that I have taken for granted for so long. I also know that there are greater purposes for why I am here. Besides it being an outstanding opportunity and experience. I think the Lord has other reasons for me being here and I hope he reveals those to me. All I know is this morning singing praises to him surrounded by strangers, I felt at home.

I am loving my internship so far. I am doing my first rotation on the 21st floor, which is pulmonary and infectious disease as well as the TCU. It is so freeing to love what I am doing and to be able to see myself doing it for a long time. God willing, I get a job after this internship, I see myself doing this for a while. Who doesn't love loving on children and their families everyday? I am excited to go to work everyday and I am excited to start each week. I haven't felt that in a long time. I know it will get harder and I know I will be faced with cases that make me struggle, but right now I am loving ever minute of it. Most people really don't understand what my internship is and really what in the world child life is. So, here is my explanation. The role of a Child Life Specialist is to help patients and their families to cope with hospitalization. This can be through procedural support, so, explaining procedures and diagnoses in a language the patient will understand, doing distraction during procedures so that it is as least traumatic as possible. Giving emotional support to patients and families. Normalization, which most likely is through play, so allowing patients to continue to develop appropriately by playing. Child Life Specialists also play the advocates for patients and families so that the patient wishes are known. They empower patients and families with the knowledge and skills to get through this experience. They are specialists on development, so the medical team uses them for that knowledge on what is appropriate. The main goal of a child life specialist is to help patients cope with their hospitalization and it can be manifested through all of these different things. It is a very rewarding field and I am enjoying what I am learning and then being able to put those skills to use. I am looking forward to my next 13 weeks here and everything the Lord is going to continue to teach me. Maybe I will keep you posted on those things.