Hidden Hurts

Hidden Hurts

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. Psalm 147:3

When I make rounds, the nurses will update me on any changes with my patients. Typically this means vital signs, inputs and outputs (I/Os), and how many bandage changes on wounds.

More experienced nurses will often give me insight into a patient’s anger or depression or tell me about a visitor who was especially upsetting. Many times, the patients themselves will tell me when there’s more going on than meets the eye.

Through the years, I’ve learned a lot about my patients while dressing wounds, casting broken bones, or waiting for X-rays to come back. During those times, patients may open up a bit and share the story behind the story that brought them to the hospital. The physical injury becomes the beginning of an invitation to hear about what’s really hurting them.

Amy’s ankle injury was not particularly severe, but the story of how the injury occurred brought a whole new level of concern. She had fallen down a set of stairs and twisted her ankle on the landing—but then she told me she’d been pushed down the stairs while being kicked out of her house. Once we got her patched up, she began to cry that she had nowhere to go.

We made a few phone calls and found a women’s shelter where she would be safe and have a roof over her head.

Amy’s ankle healed slowly, along with her broken heart. Eventually, she found a new home and a job. With independence came a new sense of confidence that transformed the timid, frightened young woman I had first met in the ER.

Though Amy had been injured in her fall down the stairs, I saw it as God’s intervention to protect her from greater harm, while he simultaneously pushed open a door that Amy had desperately tried to keep shut—bringing healing to the root of her problem.

Sometimes it can seem as if no one sees or cares about your pain. In those moments, be still and know that God not only cares for your bumps and bruises, he also cares for your banged-up and bruised heart. He has the power and the compassion to heal them both.

TODAY’S RX

Whether others see your pain or not, be assured that the Great Physician sees everything, and he has a treatment plan to restore you to health, inside and out.

Father, thank you for tending to my heart. Even when all seems lost and I feel alone, I have the promise of your presence beside me, caring for me and walking me toward healing.