S3E3: When Nursing Class Hits Home

Welcome back y'all. We're in season 3 of Following Jesus in Nursing, where we're talking about finding hope in hard places. As nurses and nursing students, many of us carry responsibilities that feel heavier than we expected, caring for others while quietly holding our own burdens, exhaustion, and frustration. Today's conversation reminds us that God meets us not just after the struggle, but right in the middle of it. Our guest today is Jane, and her story comes from her time as a nursing student when her family members were facing significant physical and mental health struggles, while she was balancing caregiving, school, and faith all at once.

Before we begin, I want open with a Scripture and a prayer. "God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1. Lord, we bring to you the weight of all of our responsibilities, our work, our studies, our care for our family members. Would you be our strength where we feel like we've reached the ends of ourselves? Amen.

Even though I had a lot of grief and anger and I was discouraged, I was so thankful that the Lord had prepared me for these hard times. And I'm so thankful that I had learned from these past experiences that the secret to getting through this was to depend on him and look to him for encouragement and hope when I was feeling really low, exhausted, and sad.

Welcome, Jane. I'm so glad you could join us today. Would you just start us off with introducing yourself and share anything else you'd like us to know about you before we get into your story today?

Well, sure. I'm Jane Hall, and I'm a retired registered nurse. I went to Baylor University, and spent two years in Waco and two years up in the Dallas area, which was my hometown. I worked a lot in public health. I was a nurse educator for 15 years.

You've done it all.

Yeah. I loved working with the underserved and the Lord gave me that opportunity all through my career. While I was a teacher, I was invited to an NCF weekend retreat and I really didn't know anything about it. But I met the national director and the people that were there accepted a challenge to host weekend retreats so that we could bring NCF to Texas nurses and students. And had a wonderful 16, 18 year career with NCF in various positions.

And I still volunteer with NCF nationally and here in Texas. And my joys in life revolve around my husband and my daughter and her family. I have two great grandsons and a wonderful son-in-law. And my little dog Phoebe has been an addition in the last two years to our life here in Waco, and she's brought us lots of fun. And since retirement, I've become even more involved in church, and I've served as a Bible study leader and as a Stephen Ministry leader and caregiver. We have lots of friends, which we are so thankful for, and we love to eat with them, go out to eat, and do fun things. On my own, I love to swim and try to do laps for about 45 minutes at least twice a week at the Y.

That is an impressive amount of swimming.

That keeps me going.

All I can do is the doggy paddle to not go under the water. So I'm very impressed.

Well, you have chosen to share with us today about a time back when you were a college student. So could you just take us back to what your life looked like and maybe share some context and backstory so we can understand a little bit about what was going on for you at that time?

Sure. Love to. Regarding background, I think it's important for people to understand a little bit about my family life. My father was a polio victim during the Korean War long ago, but it left him a quadriplegic, and I was about 1 when that happened. He came home to live with us, my mother, older brother, and me at Thanksgiving time just before I turned four.

And from that day forward, we all participated in his care. You could say my nursing career started at a young age.

Yeah, I guess so.

My mother was his primary caregiver and she did that along with all of her other responsibilities. She was a terrific mom.

That's a lot.

Yeah, the stresses in her life took a heavy toll on her. And so my challenging, difficult time as a student came when I was doing my mental health nursing clinical at a very prestigious private hospital in Dallas. And during that semester, my mother had her third mental breakdown. Thankfully, my older grandmother came to stay with us once again, but I still carried on most of the responsibility for caring for my father, our home, and then getting to school and all my clinical activities. And one thing that was confusing and challenging for me was my clinical hospital had a very different treatment approach to care than my mother's hospital.

And this caused conflict between my father and I. We argued a lot about what kind of care she should be getting and what our role in all of that should be. So I was more than ready for my mother's six weeks of hospitalization to be over. But her still vulnerable state and the responsibilities I had at home and at school were still very real to me.

That's heavy. And that's a full plate. It sounds like you were learning one thing at the hospital you were studying at, and then your mother was receiving a slightly different treatment plan. That would be a lot to just manage mentally on top of trying to take care of everyone around you and and also trying to learn and and achieve well in school yourself. So how how did it feel for you? What were you feeling physically, emotionally, spiritually? What was that like for you?

Scary. about how everything was gonna work out. And as I mentioned earlier, very confused and it was very challenging to be in conflict with my father. I mean, we didn't speak really for about three weeks because I was really angry that we couldn't talk about what was going on. But I realized he was very challenged by this too because of his condition.

You know, it wasn't his fault, and yet we really just couldn't talk through this stuff. But as I mentioned, this wasn't the first time my mother had had a breakdown. So I could look back and remember, you know, the Lord had gotten us through this, but I still had a lot of questions of the Lord.

Yeah. So questioning sounds stressful, full of conflicting conversations with your dad. And it's complicated too, trying to figure out a plan of care for someone so close to you like that.

And not being invited to do that.

Yes. Yes. And you're the one who's the nursing student and studying and getting the cutting edge new sort of things at this prestigious private hospital. That would be very exhausting, I would imagine, to feel that way.

It was.

So how do you feel like your faith came into that part of your story? How did it help you respond during this challenging time?

Well, I was very fortunate as a child. I always knew I was dearly loved, even though our family was a little different. And I got to go to a Christian summer camp starting when I was 8. And when I was 10 at that camp, I felt God calling me and Jesus became my Savior and Lord. And I was fortunate enough to stay in that camp until I was 21.

I held different positions. I grew up as a counselor. And so I had lots of camp friends and mentors that had shown me what does it look like to follow Jesus every day of your life. And that really stuck with me. And also I got into a great church when I was in high school.

So even though I had a lot of grief and anger and I was discouraged, I was so thankful that the Lord had prepared me for these hard times even back when I was 15. These same people and God's Word and his faithfulness were exactly what I needed to keep me going. So with this experience, I knew what to do. I had to seek his presence through prayer. I just cried my tears to him. And thankfully, I was very encouraged by the prayers and the words of others. And I always remembered the hymns we learned at camp, sitting around the campfire. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Trust and Obey, How Great Thou Art. And there was a little chorus called His Way Mine. And it was that God has a plan for everybody.

And it may not look like everyone else's, but what you want is that I would want my way to be his way. Be in his will. That was the most important thing to me. So I'm so thankful that I had those things to fall back on.

What a great foundation. That summer camp sounds amazing. And it sounds like you had some really solid training and teaching for over a decade going into this experience. You're very well prepared by that community, it sounds like. So as you look back, you know, as you were pouring out your tears and your prayers to the Lord, how did you see God responding? Where did you see God's hand in that season?

It's interesting. I had already been in the dorm for a summer and one semester in the fall. And I just felt this need to move home, to be in my parents' home where I'd always grown up. I felt the need for some peace and just quiet time and to be alone. Otherwise, it was nursing school 24 hours a day in the dorm. I loved my roommate and my suite mates, but it just went on and on and on. And I was spending a lot of time at my home church and it was quite a drive. So I just moved home. My roommate was very unhappy with me, but the Lord worked it out for her. And so, as I mentioned, I was seeking the Lord, but I also looked to my friends at church and my nursing school friends, and they would listen when I ranted and they wiped my tears.

And my church friends especially prayed for me, prayed with me, stayed in close contact with me. And even my psych instructor tried to help me understand my mother's illness. She was a strong Catholic woman and she was concerned about how I was coping. So, you know, how many times does a nursing instructor get personal with you? But she did and I appreciated that.

But the Lord really heard my cries and gave me peace and strength and I just kept going. And I'm so thankful that I had learned from these past experiences that the secret to getting through this was to depend on him and look to him for encouragement and hope when I was feeling really low, exhausted, and sad. So I know that my trust and my faith in him as my rock and sustainer, I grew tremendously during that time. And the fun thing was the Lord gave me an opportunity to witness to others about who God is and how he was working in my life. I completed the semester with good grades.

That one person that I shared with became my husband a couple of years later.

Wow. That's super fun. And what a miracle to do well in school with everything else going on and to be able to have the focus to study well and to do well in spite of all of that.

Thank God for good friends and people that will come alongside when things are tough. And thank God for that clinical instructor. What a what a kind person to to see what you were experiencing and to to go out of her way to support you. I hope clinical instructors are listening right now go that extra mile for their students.

I knew I could go to her if I needed to, and and meant a whole lot.

So if there are students and nurses here today listening who are feeling overwhelmed, maybe they are caretakers for their own family members or are going through something similar to what you've described today, how would you encourage them? What would you say to them today?

I think it's really important that you just ask God to show you who he is, how much he loves you, and to show you the way forward. Prayer has got to be something you do all the time as much as you can. You just need to tell him everything you're feeling and exactly what you need. And even thank him for what he's done and that he's with you now and that he's working things out the way he's planned it. I also think staying in the Scriptures as much as you can and then select, you know, just a few verses that really speak to your heart and mind that encourage you and give you confidence and keep those verses close to you as you go through your day.

Write them on a card, keep them in your car, put them in your phone and your notes, and dwell on those Scriptures so that you know the Lord is caring for you. And ask him specifically to give you wisdom, his wisdom, and strength to persevere. And ask him to give you real people you can share with and be authentic and honest with, and people who will give you what you need in return. You know, you may have to really ask him to help you know what healthy boundaries are during this time, because you're probably gonna have to narrow those boundaries down so that you can do well even though this is a hard time.

Yeah. Like what you did with moving out of the dorm and creating a little bit of quiet space for yourself. It sounds like you did that even before the situation happened with your mom, but God was preparing you in that.

He was.

Yeah. Well, you mentioned keeping a couple Scriptures close at hand and dwelling on those. What are a couple of Scriptures that were helpful to you or are helpful to you in this season?

You know, it's really hard for me to choose a few Scriptures that, you know, got to me. But there are some that really help me. One is Isaiah 41:10 and I'll quote it for you. "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I just picture myself being held by the Lord's right hand and realizing that, you know, he's saying, commanding me, don't be anxious because I am God and I'm going to be the source of your strength and your protection, everything that you need to go forward.

And the other Scriptures that mean a lot to me are in 2 Corinthians 4 where Paul is just encouraging the Corinthians and he reminds them that we are just earthen vessels. You think about what an earthen vessel is and that it is used all the time for everyday things. But sometimes we get cracks or we even get broken down and the Lord has to take that clay and literally remold us into something new, but something stronger than we were before. But that's his work. I truly think the only way that we get stronger in this life is to go through hard times and look to the Lord for what is he teaching me. Who do I need to be? And what does this event mean to me and maybe even to others? Hard times and suffering are just part of the Christian life.

You know, it strikes me that both Scriptures that you just shared really describe God holding us in some way, whether it's the jar that's the clay being molded in his hands or it's being us being held in his hand. And I love that image. And I'm just thinking, you know, for those listening, if you've never engaged with Scripture in a sort of imaginative way, it can be so powerful to just close your eyes and picture it. Just imagine yourself being held. What does it feel like to have the Lord's strong hand around you and to sit with that image so that it's not just in your mind or in your ears, but it's really in your heart and your body? You feel it more deeply and sit with that Scripture.

I totally agree to just let yourself experience God's hold on you. And when you're feeling alone and really down, you know, who better to hold you tightly and give you that assurance that he's got you. It's the best.

Yeah. It's beautiful. Well, Jane, as we wrap up this episode, could you just give us a little summary? What's the key truth and takeaway that you'd love for us to take away from your story today?

Well, I think it's, as I've mentioned, knowing who God is and and that he wants us to do his will. I came up with three words that help me remember what my job is as a follower of Jesus. And they are these three words: trust, obey, and abide. And those are all action words. And they tell me, you know, this is what you've got to be doing for the Lord to be active in your life and present. And it's kind of like a checklist for me. How am I doing in these areas? The Bible is the instruction book. It tells us exactly how to do these things. So that's what I would share.

And the other thing is to be constantly thankful and grateful for how God is working in your life and for what he's doing.

Thank you so much, Jane. Trust, obey, and abide. I've learned that nurses love checklists. So, that is a great checklist. They're actions, but they're also dependent on the Lord. They're actions that are sort of receiving actions to trust what God has given us to follow through on what he's called us into and to just live connected and attached to him. I love those three words.

He is the focus of all three of them. Yes. Yes.

Well, thank you so much, Jane. It was really a blessing to hear your story and to hear the ways that you have clung to Jesus throughout that and such a good example for others who are going through similar things. So thank you so much for sharing today.

You're welcome. My joy.

Jane, thank you so much for sharing your story and your faith with us today. As we close, one truth stands out clearly. God is our strength in the hard places. Even when we feel overwhelmed, he remains our strength and sustainer. Jane reminded us of the importance of trusting, obeying, and abiding, staying close to the Lord when circumstances don't make sense.

And Scripture tells us that we are jars of clay carrying God's treasure so that the power belongs to him and not to us. That is good news for nurses who feel stretched thin. If you're listening today and feeling overwhelmed, know that you are not alone. God is near and he often meets us through his Word. If you're looking for an easy way to get more Scripture into your day, check out our Bible reading plan.

To find it, download the YouVersion Bible app, enter NCF in the search bar, and look for the 3-minute nurse challenge. As always, details about NCF membership and resources can be found at ncf-jcn.org. Be sure to use the coupon code FOLLOWING for $10 off. Thank you for listening to Following Jesus in Nursing. If this episode encouraged you, please consider sharing it, subscribing, or leaving us a review.

Jane, thank you again for being with us. And to our listeners, may you know the Lord's strength and presence wherever you are today.