Service to others is an important characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is willing to bear other people’s burdens and to comfort those who need comfort. Now thanks to growing up in my church and how my parents raised me I have always understood this concept.From the time I was little, Serving others has always been part of my life. But let me tell you why it has become so important to me.
For those of you that don't know me or my background story, Let me start with a shortened version of how I got to where I am today, When I was three months old I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus meaning too much fluid on the brain. The only treatment required brain surgery to have a tube called a shunt placed in my brain to drain the excess fluid. I've had to have dozens of surgeries because of this condition since then. Strangers in scrubs became family that fought for me in more ways than one. The first few years it was like a never ending roller coaster. Back and forth to the hospital. One brain surgery after another. It settled down when I was around four years old.
Things were okay and at bay until the winter of my eighth grade year. If you ask my mom I started acting a little crazy, had some headaches, and had to have yet another brain surgery. The roller coaster of brain surgeries, hospitalizations, and doctor visits started once again. And my time as a "frequent flyer" began. But don't let me give you the wrong picture my admissions to hospital were never dreary even when I was at my sickest. My hospital admissions were always filled with visits from therapy dogs, meeting local celebrities, staying up way too late at night with my favorite nurses talking about well.. what us girls talk about, and most importantly LOTS and LOTS of laughter.
During my times at Children's Hospital of Richmond, it was like I was at home. The people that work there are like a second family, and other patients at times were one of my only ways of support.I was given many stuffed animals like this beanie baby, pillow pets, blankets and even a few disney princess dolls. And if you know me, I LOVE Disney. These items were donated by complete strangers, and they ended up in my hands. It made me feel special and loved. They made the gray hospital room a little brighter, and the pillow pets made it a little easier to sleep in the not so comfy bed, but other than feeling loved it really didn’t do anything for my mind. I still sat in my hospital room watching the same tv shows, and completely bored. The DVD and games the staff had were aimed towards elementary age children. So I really didn’t get much out of that…
When I felt up to it, I walked the halls with the child specialist and one of the other older frequent flyers. There was laughter and smiles as we made laps around the pediatric floor, but there was still something missing. All of the kids under the age of 12 had a special room where they could hang out, there was even one for the infants and toddlers.
These rooms were filled with really cool age appropriate toys, but kids over 12 had no where to call their own, and the child life specialists barely ever had donations that were appropriate toys or items for that teen age bracket. And I found out that this situation is actually a common occurrence at hospitals all across the country. That's when my brain started thinking Why doesn't someone do something? This just can't be... Disney princess dolls and batman action figures are nice, but what about us teenagers? We get hospitalized too! It didn’t make sense to me.
I questioned all of those thoughts that had been racing through my mind for the next few months, but then it hit me that I didn't have to look for someone to do it for me I could be the one to change this and make teenagers in the hospital feel at home, and have things to make those long days when the doctors tell you stay in bed pass by a little quicker. I started simple with just asking you guys to help me collect items. My first donation was actually from Debbie Beyer and Brenda King after they heard that nothing was really ever done for hospitalized teens, and I will be forever grateful for the day they came to visit me with a huge basket in arms for the child life specialist because after that day the idea hit the ground running, and something spectacular was created.
I have testimonials of other frequent flyers:
~There is a young lady that's been in the hospital for several months now who has really had a roller coaster of a hospitalization... from very very sick to doing amazingly well these days. She went from not being able to speak to being able to sing all the time. She LOVES Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Adele and is learning how to play the guitar with our music therapists. She loves to snuggle with our dogs on call and make beautiful crafts and art work with child life, art therapy and volunteers. She's VERY proud of how far she's come and always wants to be an inspiration to others that they just need to keep faith and keep trying and loving life.
~There's a young lady who is very very sick right now and may be here for many months recovering slowly. She has a younger sister and brother who have been here as often as they can just to give her support and love and even got enrolled in hospital schooling since they were at the hospital so often. They have an incredibly tight knit family who share love through their cooking, their stories and their support.
~There is a young man who's had a rough time these past several months, losing a mom and a brother in a relatively close period of time who is also a chronic patient with us. He's very sweet and loves attention, loves remote control cars and helicopters, legos and action figures and is always very creative in his play.
I started getting donations from all over the state and the child life specialist told me she was getting donations in my name left and right. And it was all because I stopped questioning, and started doing. My work for the Children’s Hospital is never done . Although all this has happened, This has become one of my ways to serve, but there is so many things you can do to serve others.
As Galatians 15:13 says 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. In order for us to show our love for God we must show our love to our community members. When Christ calls us to follow Him, He also calls us into a life of service. He came to this earth, not to be served, but to serve. But as the bible shows us, serving other’s doesn’t always come easy. it infact can be one of the hardest things we try to do. Often times, We think that we have to go out and do something huge in order to be serving others. But it’s certainly not that way. It can be a simple act of kindness or You decide to take action and so You don't have to be involved with something big to serve others while serving the Lord.
You don’t have to be a certain type of person to be able to help someone. Young, old, rich, poor we all have the ability to show God’s love through serving others. And then sometimes in our journey of serving, we find roadblocks, someone might react negatively towards our service or we find we don’t have enough money to do a projected project. But that shouldn’t stop us. And you guys have shown me that is possible to do this.
Most of us definitely do their fair share of service for others. But have we all found our sweet spot of service? I know mine is making a difference for the teenagers at the Children’s Hospital. But your’s is probably something totally different. Not every type of service is a perfect fit for everyone. It may be giving back to the place that has given so much to you or you may find a cause that just really calls to you. It doesn’t matter what you do to show God’s love to others, Giving Money to an organization… Donating items to local places in need.. Service to your very own community.. Flying across the world for a mission trip.. These are all service projects that you might find yourself in as you go through life. Just like jobs, Your sweet spot of service may change over the years, but there’s always something out there. Whether it be big or small, I believe that God has something for each and everyone of us to do. We just have to be willing to step out and find out what our “something” is. And remember no act of love is too small after all it may just turn into something spectacular.
