Speaker 1:                                             From Austin Stone Worship, this is stories from the Austin Stone. In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, believers around the world are striving to be faithful to Jesus and love their neighbors. Alone Together is a series of stories about how the people of the Austin Stone are living faithfully in uncertain times.

Speaker 1:                                             Today, across Austin and around the world, doctors and nurses, restaurant owners and delivery drivers, singles and students, moms and dads, artists and accountants and more, are loving God, their church, their city, and the nations in the midst of this season. We might be spending our days apart, but in Jesus, the church will always be united. These are stories of God's people alone together.

Lauren:                                                My name is Lauren, and I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska, went to nursing school in Omaha. Did a gap year program in Branson and then moved here late January. I'm working at a hospital here in Austin as an RN, registered nurse. I'm on a med surge unit, so lots of different patients that I get to be with every day and have loved it so far and grateful to be here.

Lauren:                                                Ultimately, I wanted to be a nurse because I feel like that's a very tangible way to love people and show people who Jesus is as they are suffering or hurting in different ways. And so, I talked to my nurse manager on the phone for my first interview a locker room of a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska for 20 minutes over lunch and literally ended up crying at the end of the interview because we literally just like talked about Jesus the whole time. And she was like, "Tell me why you want to be a nurse and why you want to come to Austin? How do you want to implement your faith into your work?" And I was like, "Wow, Laura, this is so cool.

Lauren:                                                I am a brand new nurse. I've never been a nurse before, so it's been a whirlwind almost with starting a new job and trying to figure out nursing in general, let alone in the middle of a pandemic. My coworkers have been awesome, and my manager has been a huge blessing as I've transitioned into the nursing career and in the middle of the coronavirus. It's a new day every single day with what precautionary things we're doing and what PPE were using in the hospital and how we're supposed to treat these patients, and obviously, it's just been changing every day.

Lauren:                                                Recently, the hospital has banned visitors from any patients in the whole hospital. So, that's been really hard for a lot of patients, understandably. My nurse manager is a believer, and so she just asked me and a couple of other people if we wanted to come in or stay later just to hang out with patients and keep them company and talk to them like they were family. And so, that's just been a really sweet blessing that we get to do. And I'm grateful for my manager who has that heart for the people there and wants to serve them in that way.

Lauren:                                                There's been a couple of patients that I've gotten to do that with. There was a patient a couple of weeks ago who was nearing the end of life, probably in the next six months. She was just getting put on hospice and had cancer and lots of other things that were going on as well. Her husband wasn't able to be with her, and she was very out of it and in pain. I was able to just sit with her throughout the day at different points and just talk to her. She talked very slowly and was very tired but was grateful for that day just having those moments with her.

Lauren:                                                And then after the day, I just like felt the Holy Spirit be like, "Hey, she like needs love right now." And so, went back in there, and I was like, 'Okay Holy spirit, speak through me right now because this is not me.' And I just went back into her room and sat with her and just asked her, I was like, "Hey, do you know who Jesus is? Have you heard his name?" And she looked at me and was like, "Yeah, I've heard his name." And I was like, "Can I tell you about how he's changed my life?" And she nodded, and so I gave her a two minute little, "Hey, this is who Jesus is."

Lauren:                                                And I was like, "Can I pray for you?" And just by the grace of God, she was like, "Yeah, I would love that." So, I got to pray with her. And by the end, we were both just in tears. And just really sweet the way that the Lord gave us that time, and her heart was open to that and being able to hear who Jesus was and pray for her and get to talk to him. And I went back whenever the next shift was and saw her again and got to pray with her again. And then she left the unit, and I don't know where she is anymore, but that woman really stuck out to me, and I was just very grateful for the Lord's sovereignty and sweetness and those times with her.

Lauren:                                                There was an older man with dementia in a hospital by himself, and he had three daughters. I talked to two of them on the phone the day that I had him, and I came home, and I remember being like, 'Wow, this is hard for these patients,' but I also realized that day that it was hard for everybody else and his family and his friends who weren't able to be with him. And I was like, 'How sweet of the Lord to show me that people care. about other people,' and his daughters were so anxious and interested and just wanted to make sure that their father was being cared for well.

Lauren:                                                I remember on the phone with their daughters multiple ... His daughters multiple times that day and just being like, 'Wow, Lord, thank you for showing me the fact that there are people that care about their loved ones and their families and that this is hard for them too. And so, show me how to love them well even though I'm not with them and can't be with them and either can the patient that's in the hospital.' So, as these daughters called and wanted updates on their father and "Hey, what have the doctors been saying? He has dementia so he's not going to remember anything. Please remind him that we love him and that we wish that we could be there with him."

Lauren:                                                There was just a definite tenseness in their voice I could feel. And I was like, "Hey, I know that I can't be everything for your father right now, but thank you for sharing that with me. This is so helpful. I was like, "What does he like to eat? What does he like to do? How can I serve him when you guys can't be here and can't speak on his behalf? And that was just really sweet to ... They're like, "If he doesn't want to eat, he always wants ice cream." And I was like, "Great, that's so helpful."

Lauren:                                                So, that was just really sweet and helpful for me too to get to love him and serve him because I wouldn't know if his daughters hadn't told me. I think, for a while, at the beginning of this I was a very frustrated person because I was just like, 'I want to see people. I want to do things,' and in a new city, this is supposed to be fun. And stress and me being overwhelmed with not being able to see people and see my boyfriend Ryan or meet in big groups and as a church, I was frustrated that my first reaction wasn't joy because typically, I think that's how I react to things.

Lauren:                                                So, I'm grateful for the Lord putting my roommate Lauren in my life and Ryan and other people here in Austin and back home who listened and heard me, and also they helped me realize that this is a selfish desire, and these are selfish things that I'm wanting. I'm realizing that it's going to be a continuous daily attitude and dependence on the Lord and that it's not always going to be easy, but I think the Lord has definitely softened my heart. And I think there's three truths I have to go back to that help me in general in this season, which if I know the Lord is sovereign, I know that he loves me, and I know that he is good. Those three things allow me to have an eternal perspective. In all honesty, I wake up every morning that I get to go to work and praise God for the fact that I get to leave the house and go to work. I just get restless with this whole quarantine thing. And so, I'm really grateful to get to go to a hospital, be with people, be with coworkers and get to tangibly love people there who need it.

Lauren:                                                But it's also hard because it's just a very different environment. It's more tense. There's just more actions being taken and more precautionary steps. And there is definitely, as a nurse, a mental and emotional aspect of it and toll. And yes, it is difficult in days that there's just more going on or more people that need their nurse. And I think when I lean on my own understanding and try to develop my own strength, I am 100% exhausted by the end of the day and have nothing left and don't want to talk to anyone, but the days that I am very dependent on the spirit, and I'm constantly in communication, which is 100% just my sinfulness and brokenness of why I sometimes do that and sometimes don't, but in those days that I lean on the Lord more, and I'm dependent on the Lord of like, 'Okay, Holy spirit, I can't do this without you today, and just am more in tune with that, those days are much smoother, and it's just more peaceful throughout the day.

Lauren:                                                And I do have more left. Am I still exhausted? Yes, but I'm learning that the more that I try to rely on my own strength and my own understanding, the less worshipful I am and I'm not a great nurse, and I'm not a great friend or daughter during those times. And I'm learning that when I am dependent on the Holy spirit, and when I seek his face and seek who he is versus what he's doing, the more worshipful I am of him because it's not my joy and my circumstance isn't ... Or my joy of life and my vision of him isn't based on circumstances based on who he is. My tendency is to be joyful in a lot of circumstances by the grace of God.

Lauren:                                                And I think right now, I'm sad more so than joyful just with the pandemic and everything that's going on. My roommate, she has said to me multiple times, "You can be joyful and sad at the same time." And yesterday, as we were watching Easter service together, it hit me that this isn't our home and nor do I want it to be our home. The fact that Heaven is our home and our hearts yearn for something else is such a joyful thing but also a sad thing because this earth is broken, and we're living in the midst of brokenness in of the world right now in the middle of the pandemic. And so, the fact that I get to serve people who are sad right now but have an eternal perspective that those who know Jesus get to be in Heaven together one day brings me such joy.

Lauren:                                                I literally have a lump in my throat. It literally just brings me so much joy to think of the fact that we're all going to be in Heaven someday and laugh and celebrate the fact that the Lord moved during the pandemic of the coronavirus in 2020. When I think about Heaven, especially in this time, it makes me so excited because this isn't our home, and Heaven is, and the Lord knows what's going to happen and knows who his children are and know that he is going to be glorified in this, and so there's just a huge peace and excitement and joy that comes with that.

Speaker 1:                                             Thank you for listening to this episode of stories from the Austin Stone. Please help us spread the word about the podcast by rating and reviewing us on Apple podcasts or wherever you found this episode and by sharing this episode with your family and friends. If you have a story to share with us during this time, please visit austinstone.org/share. That's austinstone.org/s-h-a-r-e. Finally, for up to date information on how the Austin Stone is responding to the new coronavirus, please visit austinstone.org/coronavirus.