(The HOPE Coordinator for Mobile/Fairhope, Alabama)
Did I say the right thing? Did I quote the most comforting Scripture? Was I being a good Christian?
As a brand new nurse at the age of 22 on a bone marrow transplant floor, these were the questions I constantly asked myself. I wanted so desperately to bring comfort to my patients and their families as they dealt with cancer and their emotional roller coaster. However without realizing it, I was losing my health—mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I was putting on myself a burden that God never wanted me to take on.
I will never forget the day HOPE was introduced to me as I sat at the nurse's station crying my eyes out, not able to make it another step. My dear friend Donna comforted me with a verse from Romans that encourages us to weep with those who weep. She didn't tell me to stop crying and get it together, but allowed me to express my emotions, which was a new and very freeing concept.
Immediately after attending the HOPE workshop, I walked onto the bone marrow transplant floor and instead of trying to dodge my patients' families afraid of the emotional burden I would walk away with, I went to them with ease knowing I had the tools to truly help them in their grief process. I feel this workshop has changed my life, and I am so thankful to share this with the people I love.
The HOPE Workshop teaches life lessons about stuff we "never learned in kindergarten", new concepts that are "light bulb" moments that make so much sense. It gives us tools to empty our emotional baggage so that we can live the abundant life Jesus promised and be true ambassadors for His Kingdom.
(Ashley is conducting a 12-Week HOPE in Mobile and has conducted a weekend workshop at the Catholic Retreat Center in Alabama.)
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