He gives power to the faint (from the devo)
“He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV
I’m writing this devotional in particular from a workroom, on a night shift at a moment of quiet. At the time of writing, I’m at the end of a month of medicine floors. Before that, I was on ICU for the last month. Before that I did ID, and before that I did OB days and nights.
To say that I am tired is an understatement.
I have had days off where it is all that I can do to get out of bed and eat once, and then go back to bed again. Where my body is literally so spent that the thought of getting up to do the most basic things is a Herculean effort. Sometimes I wonder if I will end up oversleeping, or getting sick, or worse, getting snappy and tired and missing things.
But somehow, work comes, and I get up and go back again, with a smile or two most days for my workmates who are just as tired as I am. And even more amazing is that my coresidents have a smile and a laugh as well most days. It’s a miracle, really, that we’re all here still standing. And not only are we still standing, we somehow have families and friends and lives and dreams that we’re still dreaming — just like you, reader. If you’re reading this, you probably have a couple of war stories of your own. (If you’re a surgeon, you’re probably looking at my schedule thinking I’m a wimp. LOL.)
You may be wondering where this devotional is going, whether I have any strong philosophical or Biblical quote to chew on. Sorry to disappoint — I don’t have that today. But I do have one message:
GO YOU!
You’re probably tired like me or even more tired than I am, and yet you’re still showing up to work with a smile. That is awesome! You’re doing amazing!
Your showing up to work today is proof of two things: one, that you are AMAZING; and two, that God has kept you alive and given you energy till this point.
Residency makes you tired in multiple different ways. There’s the physical tiredness from working too many hours. There’s also the mental tiredness of learning how to take care of way too many patients, or working with adverse personalities on the job, or just being an intern in general. (Shoutout to interns. God bless y’all for showing up every day. You all are particularly awesome for showing up for the grind!) There’s the emotional weight of dealing with death, injustice, adverse outcomes, mean attendings, and so much more. I don’t know about you, but I wake up some days and wonder how in the heck I made it to this point. I’ve wanted to quit plenty of times, but somehow, God just gives me the energy to just keep going.
And He’ll give you the energy to keep going as well.
This is an excerpt from The Resident Physician’s Devotional, a 21-day devotional of encouragement specifically for resident doctors. To get the link to the full book for free, check out the “Resources” section of this website!