“The joy of the Lord is our strength” Nehemiah 8:10

There are things we tend to lose, right? The things that we most easily lose in our daily tasks are the pen, the glasses, the cell phone, the piece of paper where we had an important annotation, and some would say “our hope”. But there is something that we all easily lose, especially Christian nurses, and it is joy.

On Sundays we leave the church joyfully excited to serve the Lord. Yet, as soon as we arrive at the hospital, there is bad news, a change in our work plans, the absence of a colleague, work overload, and a host of other things that make us lose our Sunday joy.  Romans 14:17 says: “The kingdom of God is not food or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Joy is a natural consequence of following Christ. While we are living during these difficult days. we are reminded of Lamentations 5:15 “The joy of our heart ceased, our dance was changed into mourning “. It seems like the complaint and the hopelessness cover us. There are many things that make us lose joy.

• An unbalanced schedule: the nurse knows a lot about this, we overload our schedule and then frustration comes when we do not comply with everything.
• Selfishness: when we want to only receive the benefits of our profession and not deliver the added value to our work, such as love and mercy. Knowledge sometimes puffs up, but love builds and as a result fills us with joy.
• Unused talents: Sometimes we do not use all our talents, our gifts, abilities and fall into a routine.We must use all that God has given us to enrich our work and thus find the job satisfaction we so crave.
• Unconfessed sin: inside we know that we have unresolved things, such as not accepting a partner, feeling upset with our supervisor, jealousy, anger, strife, and others. We need to confess to the Lord and help us look at the another with the eyes of Christ.
• Unresolved conflict: like negativity, gossip, bad humor, bitterness.
• A malnourished spirit: we can only face all these things that rob us of joy, strengthening our spirit with the Word of God and with prayer.

In Psalm 51:12 the psalmist asks for the restoration of joy. “Return to me the joy of your salvation and noble spirit sustain me.”   When you become aware that you have lost your joy, remember that nothing is comparable to what God has done for you.

“And the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15: 13.

Lic. Martha Fernández Moyano, Argentina NCFI IB

Member of Prayer & Care committee of NCFI