Stressed? If you’re in healthcare that’s almost a given, right?

Peace can be so elusive amongst the overbooked appointments, long hours, and thinly-stretched patience, all in a highly serious environment with little to no room for error. It can really weigh on you. At times, it can be a thankless job for all the chaos endured.

But what if I told you that’s the exact environment where true peace is available?

Sometimes peace is simply defined as calm and serenity, period. We envision a vacation at a beach resort, basking in the sun’s warm rays. We hear the calming sound of the gentle waves washing ashore. We sip cool, refreshing lemonade while breathing in the salty beach air. But that daydream looks nothing like the reality we live every day.

Lab values will be out of range. Patients will take out their frustrations on you. Coworkers will call in sick during the busiest times of the month. Appointments will run over their allotted timeframes. Emergencies will happen that require immediate response. And medications will be out-of-stock, or worse backordered. Real life is a far cry from a vacation.

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“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness” – Ephesians 6:14

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”. – Proverbs 4:23

Cardiology, as a branch of medicine, ranks as one of the most important areas of study. Life as we know and enjoy it depends prominently on the ability of the heart to pump life-giving blood throughout the body. Non-stop for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year it functions to ensure life is available to cells, tissues, and organs that need it.

We advocate exercise to keep the heart muscle physically fit. We advise healthy eating and balanced diets to ensure it circulates vital nutrients, electrolytes, and vitamins throughout the body. We recommend regular check-ups to ensure conditions like high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, or arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) aren’t present.

So much focus is placed on this organ because…well…you only get one. That makes it valuable. And once it stops, you stop. That makes it vital. Furthermore, what flows out of the heart effects every other area of your body. That makes its function…ahem…viral. Junk in, junk circulated. Nutrition in, nutrients circulated. Solomon in the scripture referenced above in Proverbs 4:23 highlights this point, saying, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

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Last week we started in Ephesians 6 to set the groundwork for studying spiritual warfare. We likened it to fighting a difficult-to-treat infection, one whose culture and sensitivity results showed resistance to human opinions, cultural norms, and even our best efforts.

Today we will explore the practical side of dealing with the real battles we encounter on a daily basis.

As a recap from last week, remember:

• We don’t use carnal/earthly weapons to fight a spiritual battle (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

• We identify who the real enemy is, the devil and his army, and who the real enemy is not, people/flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:11-12)

• We don’t approach the battle in our own strength, but suit up in the armor prescribed by God (Ephesians 6:10-11,13)

• We stand firm in the victory already won by Christ for us (Ephesians 6:11,13-14)

Paul told us what to do, now we’ll discover the most important part, how to do it, starting today with the first essential piece of armor mentioned, the belt of truth.

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We recently admitted a patient to the hospital with a multidrug-resistant infection (MDRI). These infections can be intense. Since the bacteria have found a way to change and adapt, it severely limits the scope of antibiotic options available to treat a common diagnosis. The traditional, first-line agents were ineffective to address the resistant bacteria.

Clinicians are then challenged to identify unconventional treatment options. We reach back to older medications like Colistin, which due to limited use, has lower resistance rates than agents used first- or second-line. MDRIs are so serious, general practitioners consult specialists in Infectious Disease to provide expert guidance as to the best treatment approach.

Sometimes we face problems in our lives that just won’t go away. We cry about it, complain about it, and fight against it. We discuss it with our friends, read self-help books on the subject, and do all that we know to do…with minimal improvement. In fact, the situation may even seem to get worse despite our best efforts.

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I don’t like hearing no when I want a yes. I despise the word wait. Especially when I want it now. At times, I can be a 2-year-old-acting-33-year-old. I want my way at whatever cost. But abhorrent things like disappointments, frustrations, and set-backs constantly remind me I’m not in control. Have you ever experienced that?

Rachel certainly had. Genesis 29:31 says, “Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”  Leah, at this time, had already bore Jacob 4 sons. Surely Rachel was looking around wondering, “When’s my time going to come?” She even became jealous and brought her concern to Jacob.

As if he was intentionally withholding babies from her, she demanded, “Give me children, or else I die.” Kinda dramatic, don’t you think? I mean she’s talking to the guy who worked 7 long years for her only to have the unloved, unchosen sister switched at matrimony. But because he loved her so much, he worked an additional 7 years for her. 14 years in total! If there was anyone with whom he wanted children, it was Rachel. The desire was not the issue. The timing was. Continue reading

Recognize these abbreviations? IM, IV, PO, PR, SC, SL. Or maybe these terms? Topical, transdermal, intrathecal, intranasal, and oral inhalation. Chances are you’re employed in healthcare. For those who aren’t, these represent routes of administration. They’re various ways medicine can be introduced to the body to treat specific conditions. And depending on what’s being treated, the route selected is just as important as the medication itself. Why? The medicine, which has been proven to work, won’t work if it can’t reach its site of action.

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Think of the last time you were at your doctor’s office. You came in feeling terrible, perhaps from a cough that wouldn’t go away or a stomach ache that wouldn’t subside, despite over-the-counter remedies. You waited for your name to be called…and waited…and waited. Finally, the clerk utters your name and says, “The doctor will see you now.” Absolute music to your ears.

The physician interviews you to ask what’s wrong, examines you, then explains possible causes of your symptoms. He takes out a prescription pad and writes down what, to you, must be some foreign language and unknown symbols and tells you this should make it better.

Hopeful for relief, your next stop is the nearest pharmacy. Someone like me asks you a bevy of personal questions, accepts the prescription, interprets the foreign language and weird symbols, puts some funny-colored tablets in a bottle, hands you something you don’t quite understand and explains, “Take 2 tablets 3 times a day with food for 7 days.”

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