From the moment I knew Coronavirus was a thing….I wanted to work as a nurse.
I didn’t want to just work anywhere and be paid to take care of people.
I wanted to be a nurse and be able to share the gospel!
Just like He nudged me in 2019 that the 40 day water fast was coming, He nudged me in 2020 that nursing was coming. I just didn’t know when.
Finally, Palm Sunday 2020, He said I could apply to Samaritan’s purse to have my oil ready. You gotta have your oil ready so when He comes, we are ready.
Some of you might be like “Teresa, you’re a nurse?”
Yes, I graduated from the nursing program at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in 2002. I did the LPN program first, then the RN program.
I got saved on October 31, 2000, during my 5 year stent at AB-Tech.
I have worked at Mission Hospital, in Asheville, on Adult Medicine and later in a Cardiac Step down floor.
I have also worked doing in-home pediatric care which included trach/ventilator patients.
I got to work at Beverly Healthcare in Asheville, which is a nursing home….and lemme tell you, I loved IT SO MUCH! Don’t think I have any pics from that time.
Over the years, I have done many medical missions in other nations including three trips to Guatemala with my church in 2003, 2006 and 2009.
Here is 2003:
Here is 2006:
And 2009:
In 2007, I worked in a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan:
In 2012, I did nursing care for Eritrean and Sudanese refugees in Israel.
Not sure we ever took pictures. It was out of the back of a Messianic-Jewish-Paul -type evangelist’s van where I set up some medical supplies to care for wounds and scabies.
I went to Kenya with my church as a nurse in 2014.
I also worked on a medical mission in Cambodia in 2014 in villages:
And in a clinic in Cambodia in 2014:
I was actually a drug dealer:
I worked as a nurse in Malawi on the World Race in 2015.
Me at the clinic:)
I worked in Vietnam, as a nurse, with my mom in 2016.
Can you tell she’s my mom?
My mom was reading the Bible recently during our COVID house arrest (2020) and she said as she read the parable of the talents, she thought of me and nursing. She wishes she could go with me, since she is a nurse also. She was 68 at the time and not sensing the Lord is telling her to go.
But MAD PROPS to a mom that hears Jesus’ voice over fear….even to hear this for a daughter that she loves deeply. Like no matter how much I say I love her, she tells me she loves me more.
I always keep my license active by doing 30 CEUS online every two years. It’s what I’ll call “keeping your oil ready.”
It took me 5 years to get this license and I got saved while getting it…which means God became Lord of my life and gave me His call on my life…even though it’s not my calling overall, I still keep the license active. It’s a tool in my tool belt.
The calling on my life is to go to every nation. I got that call on May 26, 2003.
Who knows when this license will get me into a nation I otherwise wouldn’t be allowed in?
So back to Samaritan’s Purse.
I had to get a drug test and they found me to be high on the Most High.
Then a background check.
Reference checks. My bosses at Adventures in Missions and Pastor Sam at my church were my recommendation. Thankfully, AIM, lets me do things like this in addition to everything else.
I had an interview….which included how I would share the gospel. I said “This is so refreshing. I was threatened to be fired when I worked at the hospital, because I had shared the gospel with a dying patient.” They assured me that they wanted me to share the gospel.
They made sure I agreed with their statement of faith. This was SO refreshing because in a world of grey Christians and fo sho grey culture, I thought finally some Christians that 1. Know what they believe from the Bible and 2. Won’t settle for confusion.
Many things aren’t “grey” in the Bible. Grey isn’t “the new black”, though many would like to think it is so we can make God in our own image to feed our flesh. Call me old fashioned….it’s fine….the Bible is alive and active. I’m committed from Genesis to Revelation.
Samaritan’s purse asked me at first if I wanted to go to New York or Italy.
I said “I have been praying for revival in America, so New York, because I wanna be a part of revival.”
During this revival, I have been listening to the news, watching where the virus is affecting, listening to the Lord, and rejoicing in the news of salvations all over.
Thousands are getting saved. Thousands. Bibles are being bought.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that the USA is the hardest hit nation.
Some people have to be encouraged to go into the harvest field. My name, Teresa, means “harvester.” My middle name Maureen means “dark.” So I am a “Harvester of the Dark.” I was made for this. I am more like the runner at the start line waiting for the gun to fire.
I told Samaritan’s Purse I could go right away, but I had debrief with World Race America from April 18th-22nd, 2020. Due to this, they said my start date would be May 1st. I told them I could be ready in a 24 hours notice. I was really hoping I would go earlier and told them I would love to be there for Easter.
But I needed to trust God in HIS timing.
The gun had fired. “This time next week I will be in NYC” is what I thought. Well the New Work trip didn’t work out because JUST as they were about to send me, like 2 days before, NY decided they didn’t need anymore nurses. I literally cried.
I wanted to run to death to be in NYC.
You see “To live is Christ and to die is gain” is not something I have tatted on my arm. It’s something I live….seared on my heart. He didn’t put fear in my wheelhouse. I just long to be on the frontlines, because that’s where the hearts are the most tender and where eyes might be open to see Jesus. Since I’m not afraid, I can go. Why not risk it all for the sake of someone else living….eternally?
Like Esther, in saving the Jewish people, said “If I perish, I perish.”
Once you know how GOOD God is…..everything else is barren in comparison.
We only get one chance to harvest and it’s called the present.
But now! I leave on January 21st for a month in response to COVID as a nurse. I AM SO STINKING EXCITED!
What do I need? To be filled with the Holy Spirit every day I enter the hospital. I want this oil to overflow to patients, nurses, and anyone else I get the privilege to encounter.
I will be prepared to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. They asked if I could work night shift. I assured them THAT wouldn’t be good for me or the patients. 🙂
I was told I needed scrubs. Lord knows, I have worn the same green scrubs with alternating Noah’s Ark top for years….i.e. the pictures testify.
Judy Luxton, a lady I worked with at the Brazil Olympics in 2016, bought me two new sets of scrubs for this Noah’s ark expedition!!!
Lewis and Clark never dreamed of the Rockies. TT didn’t dream this would be one of her states this year. You have a choice when your boat ride turns into a hike. You get out of the boat…and start walking.
And there are butterflies!!!!! You know I LOVE the butterfly effect and all they symbolize with my Dad. Plus hearts….for the love of Christ Love casts out fear. While we were yet sinners, Christ died FOR US.
But I ain’t given up on old faithful. They comin’ too.
Chris and Darla Huffman got me Danskos! I always wear these when I nurse, but didn’t have a pair.
What am I praying for? Salvations, healings, encounters with God, that the blood of the Lamb will keep me from getting the Coronavirus (like the Passover blood on my being) and for people to repent.
I want to bear the fruit of love and joy as I attempt to be Jesus with skin on. I desire for people to have encounters with the Most High God.
What would Jesus do? He would go if His Father told Him to go. He would run to death. He already did and He will yet once more. His first appearing was the beginning of our last chance to repent. When He comes for His second coming, it will be too late.
Now is the time. It’s the present.
Jesus was/is perfect and came to disease, death and darkness.
I am totally healthy here in Georgia. We are “free” to move around. I like entering into risk for the sake of the gospel. It will always be worth it.
Even if I get Coronavirus and die….like worst case scenario…I stand before Jesus in heaven as He sees my hands raw from harvesting the fields and says “Well done, my good and faithful daughter.”
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India said, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.”
I wanna do what Jesus would do. Say what He would say.
Please pray for me. I’m expectant.
He has given me talents. Nothing is wasted (college degrees) when your life is submitted to the Lordship of Jesus. It’s up to us whether we allow the Holy Spirit to minister through us to see the multiplication that Jesus promised.
30, 60 and a hundred fold. The oil that never runs dry, always ready to burn our lamps whenever the Bridegroom shows up. That oil makes light come into darkness.
I get to be on the Samaritan’s Purse call list for 2 years for disaster relief after going through this process of onboarding. That’s good, because we are going to need it.
I am expecting disaster after disaster until hearts turn back to the only true God.
While gone, I can not blog about my experiences per Samaritan’s Purse’s request. I also cannot post on social media, which I’m not on anyways….so you won’t be hearing from me unless they allow for some kind of email updates. I am also not allowed to share the location.
Thank you for your prayers!
