I found a friend

And no, it's not the security guard (though when I found out that patient was still on our floor, I 'nonchalantly' meandered by the door, trying to catch a glimpse at who was sitting with him.... but it wasn't my guard. Then at eleven (like a stalker face) I waltzed by again to see who was taking his place... again, not my guard. Maybe tonight is the night though..... you never know.

However, I did make this friend at work, and it's a patient I had a couple of nights ago. I actually mentioned him in my last post- about the whole church talk. I saw that he was still in the hospital, so before I went to greet my patients, I swung by his room. He greeted me with a smile, and we picked our conversation up like old friends. It was wonderful for my soul. His dad came in shortly after, and when he introduced his dad to me, his dad knew who I was. The patient had talked about me with his family. And it must have been good things, because he was happy to see me. And his dad was looking out for me as well. I have to say, it impressed me that they didn't do the whole "My church is better" thing and try to talk theirs up and cram it down my throat. Instead, they were both telling me about OTHER churches in the area. I really just kept thinking that I wanted to go with them sometime. "Yeah, but our church makes West Side look small." Uh oh. haha. And West Side to me is a little huge. But I think it's because I haven't rooted myself with families there. I've only met some of the young adults, and they haven't been people that I have connected with, like I was hoping. Anyway, I told them I'd be back to see them in a while, after I got settled into my routine. I checked back a couple of times, but the patient was sleeping (which was good, since we established the first night I had him that he didn't sleep well in hospitals). I finally caught him awake with the TV on this morning, after I had pretty much handed my patients over (there's like a 1/2 hour to 45 minute down time, while the nurses coming on listen to report that we taped for them). So I started talking to him again, about life and about church. I asked what service they went to, because I genuinely would love to go with them. Finally before I got ready to leave, he was like, "Well I could give you our phone number if you ever wanted to come to church with us, or call ahead of time to know when we're going." Then he paused for a minute, and I said that that would be great.... kind of in a tone trying to surpress my excitement. Then he was like, "I mean, I don't want you to feel pressured or like forced to come." And I feared my response was taken the wrong way. But I ran to get paper and wrote their phone number down. I'm so blessed..... here I am, wallowing in my pity of being lonely, and here God is, showing up. He does that often, doesn't He? :-) So I'm pretty sure that I've made a wonderful friend, and that I will love his family, because I've heard so much about them. I just feel like I'm going to be taken care of, ya know? Like if I didn't go to church, they'd be the kind to seek me out and let me know that they missed me (and noticed that I was gone). And I want/need that. I need that support and love. I'm so thankful. And I got a hug out of it. Sometimes you just need one, ya know? And he kept thanking me for the great care that I gave him, and how hard of a worker I was.... it was almost embarrassing.

I love my job :-)

And I love Jesus. Happy birthday!