wrestling with unanswered prayers

Jane Ijilusi grapples with the unanswered prayers for her patients in pain

My work is not just a means to pay my bills and live life. It is a divine calling to serve others with love, compassion, and humility. When I go to work, nursing is not just a job, but an extension of Christ’s healing ministry. However, this ministry comes with pain, deep emotional pains, and both physical and spiritual burdens. Balancing my faith, personal struggles, and the demands of my job can be a challenge, but I must carry it with grace.

The hospital setting is filled with patients fighting for their lives. Oftentimes, at the peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) clinic where I work, my patients endure pain and grapple with its hopelessness. While I trust that God is sovereign and that he is in control, it can be gut-wrenching to care for a patient whose condition deteriorates despite my best efforts and prayers.

You might have heard that we shouldn’t question God. Maybe you’ve even told others not to, but in these situations, I question God. ‘Lord, I am not even their family, but I feel this much pain and sadness; how then will the family cope?’ This is when I find myself asking why some prayers, for healing in this instance, seem to go ‘unheard’. Despite my wrestling, I find solace in the knowledge that I am following Christ. Jesus, too, felt pain and suffering in his ministry. The hope of eternity and the promise of God’s presence give me strength to continue serving, and I trust that he will sustain me through every pain.

Jane Ijilusi is a community/district nurse