Daily Inspiration
Are You God's Pioneer?
“For God's gifts and His call can never be withdrawn.”
~Romans 11:29
Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 in Florence, Italy. Her parents were an affluent British family who belonged to the elite social circles. Her father was a wealthy landowner. She was named after the Italian city in which she was born.
By the time Florence was 16 years old it seemed clear to her that nursing was her divine purpose. However, her parents forbade her to be a nurse, but she was determined and in 1844 she enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital in Kaiserwerth, Germany.
Florence Nightingale revolutionized nursing during the Crimea War. At the request of the Secretary of War, she organized 34 nurses of various religious orders to care for the soldiers. Through her corpus notes she implemented ideas for good patient care which stressed good hygiene, good sanitation, plenty of fresh air, proper lighting, a good diet, warmth, quietness, and attentiveness.
During the war, a fund was established by members of the public for Nightingale to continue her education of nurses. In July 1860, the world's first nursing school opened at St. Thomas Hospital in London, England. Today that school is part of the King's College in London, England.
Many people are God's army of pioneers, and they have a significant impact on the people whom their lives touch. A friend was a nurse who was in charge of the Infectious Diseases Department in a large New York hospital when the first AIDS patient was admitted. At that time not much was known about the disease. Therefore, she had to not only educate herself by taking corpus notes, but then because of her position in the hospital, she had to educate the doctors, nurses, and staff about how to care for the patients who had the AIDS disease.
She often speaks about the patients who would be alone with no one caring about them. She would go into their room to sit by their bedside just to hold their hand, and to encourage them. She is retired from the profession, however she continues to have the God-placed gift in her heart of a loving and caring nurse.
Our Lord has given to each person a purpose and work to perform in His world. In Romans, Paul stated: “Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others”.
Everyone is sprinkled with a least one of His diverse gift(s). Some He calls to be a nurse; professor; pastor; or in the kitchen baking the breads. However, everyone in His flock is called upon to seek out the God-placed gift(s), and then to work diligently and happily to become His pioneer so He will be glorified.
Lord God, thank You for placing Your gifts within each of us. Help us to understand them and how to use them to glorify You. Amen.
~ Ann Brock Ludington
Daily Devotion Mobile: Main Page