Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers Read Online Free PDF Page B

idols. Sheepishly she looked at me and said, "I've
always been one to hedge my bets."

    After taking a few minutes to regain my composure, I asked
Mary Sue to tell me about the prayer closet. She related a story of
her long spiritual journey and the friendships she had made along
the way. Although raised in a Pentecostal church, she became
embarrassed by her background while she was in college. She
didn't like the restrictions and was eager to see what the "real
world" offered. Whenever she met someone she admired, she
inquired about their spiritual understandings and incorporated
their beliefs and practices into her own, assuming she could
remain a Christian. What she really wanted was spiritual power,
and these other gods seemed to offer it to her. However, recently
she had experienced some frightening encounters in the prayer
closet, and she suspected that God was out to get her.
    "Tell me more about these experiences," I prompted. What she
then described did not sound like an encounter with God. I asked
if we could get together the following week for a Bible study. She
agreed, and we began with Genesis 3. She immediately saw herself in the story of Eve's temptation in the Garden of Eden. She
dropped to her knees in tears, confessed her sin and then dumped
all the contents of her prayer closet into the garbage.
    No one, including me, had thought to assess the meaning of Mary
Sue's unusual prayer life. It sounded biblical, though a little quirky.
We took it at face value. Yet her prayer closet was a desperate cry for
help, which we ignored. In the meantime, she was influencing her
youth group to explore dangerous spiritual paths, leading them astray.

    On the other hand, Cass presented another picture. She moved
into a new home with her boyfriend in our family-oriented community. She did not expect the neighbors to approve of her lifestyle. Appearing cocky and self-assured, she welcomed visitors
eagerly-until any mention of God or church came into the conversation. I assumed the topic was closed. One day after my family and I helped clear the snow from her driveway, she asked what
kind of nursing I did. After I explained that I worked for Nurses
Christian Fellowship, she eyed me knowingly and said, "I knew itl
You remind me of my best friends in nursing school. They were all
born-again Christians-and they are still praying for me." That
was the beginning of a series of approach-avoidance conversations
in which she would bare her soul, then avoid me for months. She
did not become a Christian before she moved away, but I'm sure
the "Hound of Heaven" is still pursuing her.
    The moral of the story is this: We cannot assume that what we
observe on the surface is really what is going on in a person's soul.
The most pious church member may be sitting in pyramids or hiding ceramic gods in the closet. The foul-mouthed rebel may be
desperately seeking God. If you are caring for someone as a nurse,
pastor, church visitor or mentor, it might be helpful to work
though a written spiritual assessment guide to clarify spiritual
resources, needs and concerns.
    An assessment guide provides a review of the strength and
meaning of a person's religious practices that can open doors to
helping the person establish and maintain a dynamic personal
relationship with God. This is not a time to make judgments or
give instructions; it is simply a time to gather information. You
will then be able to intervene more specifically at the person's level
of faith and understanding. The questions in table 1 may be useful
in gathering enough information to enter the other's religious world as a helping person.' In chapters four through eight we will
look more specifically at what to do with the information gleaned.

A Self-Assessment
    In order to accurately assess the spiritual needs of others, we need to
be aware of our own. As we have already determined, spiritual health
is closely tied to our relationships with