**Thank you, to all of our healthcare professionals working on the frontlines of COVID-19. Brittany Dixon is a Registered Nurse caring for patients who have contracted the coronavirus. She shared with us how she is able to have peace in the middle of a storm.**

As a Critical Care Registered Nurse, Brittany Dixon has learned how to serve and care for patients during events of extreme trauma. “There is always a level of urgency, focus, and planning that comes with my work, but what we are experiencing now has taken everything to another level,” she said. Brittany works in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, and for the past month has been treating patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

“The ICU feels and sounds very different now. It is loud. There are parts, wires, tubes, iv’s and ventilators going. It also feels empty because we don’t have any family members there. Every contact has to be through a phone call. I’m wearing several layers of protective clothing, gloves, and masks, so that also adds to the disconnection. I leave work with multiple mask imprints on my face. It kind of feels like a war zone,” she said.

To start her day, the wife and mother of three, has to physically, emotionally, and mentally prepare. “You have the anxiety of all that is going on, but especially being behind the scenes and seeing the effects of this virus, it’s really scary. There is also the heartbreak piece for the people that I’m caring for,” she said. Working on the frontlines of this pandemic has heightened her sense of spirituality.

“It’s actually really delusion that we had a level of control that we never had. COVID just took away the veil,” said Brittany. During this time she is rooting her faith in God’s word. “I’m thinking about my kids, and my husband and their safety. I’m also thinking about the people I have been called to serve. Do I have anxiety? Yes. COVID exposed what I was really placing my faith in. There are so many unanswered questions, and there is so much uncertainty, but I know that God is in the midst of it all and He is in control,” she said.

To start her day, Brittany has been reading passage that solidify and energize her faith, such as Mark 4:35-41. “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

“When I think about that passage, I think about the posture that Jesus has in the boat. He is asleep. So why is my behavior not reflecting His. Him being in the boat means that I need to look at what He is doing, trust Him, and trust that He is with me. God is like, ‘look, you could never guarantee the next day.’ So for me, it has been an unleashing of control. God’s word and His promises, give me so much peace,” she said.

During this pandemic Brittany has seen the conversations about faith increase at the hospital and at home. “My 12-year-old daughter will ask me questions like, ‘mom why are you doing this,’ and we get to have a conversation about faith. Now she tells me, ‘mom, I’m praying for you.’ My husband will encouraging me through out the say, and my kids are constantly cheering me on. Having their support keeps me going.”