Florence
Nightingale
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‘God has spoken to me and called me to His service.’ – Florence Nightingale

Authored by Amber Wait, September 2022 

Florence Nightingale revolutionised methods we still use in hospitals today. She served in the first field hospital, established schools for nurses in training, and introduced procedures that we still use today. Other than her amazing career within nursing, Florence Nightingale lived an amazing life of faith.

At the age of 16, Florence experienced a calling from God into His service. She was first unsure in what form this would be, but with her foundation and belief in trusting in God, her vocation eventually led to nursing. When Florence expressed the desire and need to become a nurse, her family were horrified. In that time, nurses were supposedly drunken women with loose morals, who nursed simply because they were not capable of doing anything else.

The call from God to be a nurse is to sacrifice. Nurses often don’t receive a generous salary, they spend long hours working in mentally and emotionally draining conditions, simply because they are passionate about their work and determined to provide the care that patients deserve. Nursing as a career allows us to employ our natural gifts for a greater purpose, whilst fulfilling Christ’s call to serve others. 

Alongside the long physical hours, nursing can carry substantial emotional sacrifices. The sacrifice of being well-acquainted with death, or seeing a long-term patient suffer, some things simply just do not get easier with time. Emotional sacrifice alongside Jesus may make it easier to bear, but Florence Nightingale’s inspiration, alongside my own when nursing; Jesus. The one who gave the ultimate sacrifice, for me, for you, so we may be freed of the suffering.

The compassion nurses show their patients is an outwork of God’s character, lived out through Jesus. In the bible, when there was hunger, or sickness, or the lost wanted to be found, Jesus was moved with compassion. Compassion to feed the hungry, heal the sick, leave the 99 for the 1 and find the lost. The same with nurses, the compassion they outlive with patients, leads to action that can transform situations.

Florence Nightingale’s call to service from God, allowed her to freely give compassion and care. From this, we saw a new era for military nursing, better hospital environments, and simply an amazing role model to many nurses around the globe. What may we do by holding on to God’s word and His compassion for us?

Nursing is a calling from God to care for others. Our art of caring is built on a foundation of biblical truths. Human beings created in the image of God, are His most prized creation. And I have the honour of providing care to everyone I meet.

If you require more information after this blog post, please access this source: Christian Medical Fellowship – https://www.cmf.org.uk/