Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
~ 1 Peter 5:7, KJV
“Two are on the floor, and one is in the emergency department,” she added, as I glanced at the clock; it was 5:40p.m. I was late! I was flustered and felt terrible that the day shift resident doctors had been waiting for so long. They gave me all the pertinent points about the patients and quickly left.
Three admissions are not that many, but three at the same time is a different story.
“This is going to be a fabulous night,” I thought, sarcastically. Not only was I late and had three patients who needed immediate attention, but I had not had time to go home to grab my two call-night essentials-a pair of sneakers that I usually had stashed in my bag and my cell phone charger. So, I would have to walk around all night in slippery ballet flats.
I headed downstairs to see the patient in the emergency department, slipping and sliding as I went. I really needed some more comfortable shoes. After assessing the patient and leaving admission orders, a small voice said, “check your car.” Check my car? I knew I had not picked up my sneakers that morning, but I obliged.
I quickly headed to the parking lot to look in my car trunk. Inside, tucked in a corner, was a pair of sneakers! I could not believe it. I grabbed them and ran back inside. At least I would be more comfortable while trying to get everything else done.
I ran upstairs and headed to the call room to change into my scrubs. As I bent down to tie my laces, I saw something sticking out from the wall. I had seen it before but thought it was the charger for our pagers. I picked it up and tried sticking it into the USB port on my phone. It fit!.
Things were looking up! There were still three admissions to type though and two patients still to assess. I decided to glance at the histories for the other two patients before I went to see them. They were return patients with straightforward histories who were being admitted for routine chemotherapy. Both were stable with no complaints. Maybe this night was not going to be that bad after all.
When I had a quiet moment later that night, I reflected upon what had happened. Everything I was concerned about when I walked through the door, God had rectified. We often think we can go to Him only with “big” things-such as sickness, deaths, important life choices, or spiritual struggles. But His word says to cast ALL our care upon Him, great and small. He is never too busy to attend to our needs.
The same God, who brought comfort to the families of those in the hospital, found time to provide me with sneakers and a phone charger, as trivial as that may seem. May we cast all our cares upon Him today, be they great or small.
–Nicole Haughton is a pediatric resident at LLUCH. She is originally from St. Catherine, Jamaica.