"You Make Me A Better Mom"

Thirteen years ago, when my daughter Courteney was born with multiple medical issues, I was thrown into a world full of many new things.   One of my new “worlds” was the medical community – it was overwhelming, scary, and an unknown territory to me.  Little did I know then, that this new world would slowly but surely become familiar - more than I would like. 

 

Through the years though, I have to say, that although you never want your child to need medical care, to need doctors, to need therapy, you know you are blessed when they do need them and the resources are available to your child, or loved one.  Ladies, most of us have been there.  It may be medical care for ourselves, our spouses, children, or our aging parents.  It may be for chronic conditions or acute needs, or even well-visits.  We've all stepped into this intimidating world, because often we have no other choice than to do so. 

Every year we do a physical therapy show at
 Courteney's birthday party with our P.T. of 10 years!

This world that once scared me, I have developed a love and passion for.  I have let God open my heart and my mind to the fact that this is our Mission Field. It is a world often filled with fear, hopelessness, weariness, and sadness – the opposite of what Jesus says we can have in Him!

The Lord has taught me to ask myself, "what will I do with what, or even better, ‘who ’ God has entrusted to me?"  This question helps me to realize just how spiritual, impactful, and eternal our day-to-day roles and responsibilities really are.   I'll share an example...

OUR TEAM!!!

Our lives are FILLED with doctors, therapists, and nurses.  I find it imperative and am convinced it is so very SPIRITUAL to fill my life and children’s lives with great medical professionals!  Hear me when I say, they don’t have to love Jesus to be a part of our team!  Is it an added bonus when they do?  Of course!!  Have we experienced that at times?  By the grace and mercy of God…YES!!!!  The truth is I look for people to be part of our team to whom I can say “you make me a better mom.”  Some specialists we have limited interactions with, so in those cases I can’t expect that type of relationship.  But, in the physicians with whom I work regularly, this is what I aspire to have.  Ultimately, it is Dan and I who are doing this life day after day and we need the skills, the encouragement, and the empowerment to feel capable to execute all that is needed to keep our kids alive and thriving.

One of our home nurses with Courteney

We are encouraged!  Wow, do caregivers need this!  This is NOT a sprint – you are running a LIFE LONG MARATHON and you need those people in long white coats to be your cheerleaders along the way.  I suggest that you surround yourself as much as possible with physicians/therapists/nurses who encourage you. Sometimes all you need to hear a doctor say on a hard day is, “You can do this."  This is not to be confused with not being truthful though.  Oh how we need medical professionals who can say with grace and gentleness some of the hardest things we may ever have to hear.

The first time our pediatrician held Kevin,
shortly after his arrival to the U.S.

We are educated!  One of the reasons that I tell our pediatrician that he makes me a better mom is because he doesn't just tell me, he teaches me.   This knowledge has allowed Dan and me to provide our daughter with a level of care in our home that rocks the medical world.  We have taken parent/patient engagement to a new level; but, truly, it is because we have been educated which leads to feeling capable. It is our responsibility for ourselves and our loved ones to make medical professionals enter into the world of patient and family engagement and to treat you as a vital part of the team!!  It’s not always easy or comfortable, but it is spiritual. 

We are equipped!  Whether they realize it or not, when physicians encourage and educate you, they are equipping you to be better parents, better caregivers, better spouses, better advocates, and better decision makers.  See just how important it is that you are surrounded by an amazing team?

 And so we EDIFY!  When I have these types of physicians/nurses/therapists around me, I make it a point to share these truths with them.  How do you think it makes a doctor feel to hear “you make me a better mom?"  You may feel silly, but God wants us to use our words to encourage and bless others!  Just as we want them to provide us with encouragement, education, and equipping…should we not look to do the same for them?  Only patients and families can truly teach medical professionals how to care for patients and families!!  It is just another way we can take part in the mission we are on in the medical world.   Whether your doctors/nurses/therapists, realize it or not, their gifts are from God alone – remind them of that GREAT NEWS!!  Remind them of the work God is using them to do and the care He is using them to provide.  When Jesus walked the earth He cared deeply for the sick, the mentally ill, the rejected, the overlooked, the ignored, and so those who participate in this type of care are participating in His work, even if they don’t realize it!!  

"I have let God open my heart and my mind to the fact that this is our Mission Field."

May we always remember with what and with whom The Master has entrusted to each of us 

– living faithfully to someday hear: 

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master’s happiness”
~Matthew 25:21