Thoughts on 1 Peter - Day 18

                                            1 Peter 4:7


⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

    So here I am in Honduras about to operate on a at least stage 2 cervical cancer because no one else will take her and she is bleeding to death. All I can think about is will I be able to perform this surgery. Will I get into other organs it has grown to.  She is already low on blood and will she exsanguinate before I'm done. Will they have the right instruments?  The suture or drains I need? Antibiotics? Pain meds? Blood? My blood? It was so frustrating even examining her last night because they didn't have the basics I needed or if they did they were somewhere else in the hospital.  It's hard for me not to get frustrated.  It's hard for me not to show it.

   What would Peter say? First of all,  put things in perspective.  Is this lady saved? The end is near for both of us!  100 years from now,  even 40, none of this will matter except eternal matters.  What lives on? The fruit I bear today. Just chill, Jim.

    Secondly,  Peter once again mentions prayer as the ends not the means. This case has gotten me talking to God, which is the reason I'm alive - that relationship with Him . Not to mention that I posted it on Facebook and had hundreds more praying. Doesn't that put all our trials into perspective when we think#1, one hundred years from now this won't matter except for the fruit you bore and #2 the intimacy you experienced with Christ during it.

    I have another horrendous case tomorrow,  something I've never done before nor do I feel capable of doing, but it is her only hope for survival.This will keep me up praying tonight (and watching youtube videos) which is just what God wants. Are you being kept up by something.  Are you worrying or praying?  That makes all the difference.  Please don't take a sleeping pill (take 5 hour energy the next day) Use those stresses to drive you to God. That's what they are there for.

Lord, help me not to worry but view problems in the light of eternity and as a way to build a closer relationship with You. Amen