Healing the Soul: A Message to a New Class of Nurses

The following is a portion of an address delivered to Trevecca’s graduating class of nurses by Dr. Tom Middendorf at the spring 2026 Nurse Pinning Ceremony.

It shouldn’t surprise us that a place like Trevecca would be interested in nursing. I think of our mission statement, “Trevecca Nazarene University is a Christian community providing education for leadership and service.”

This mission empowers us to think deeply about how we ought to contribute to our neighbors and community. The mental picture was there—yes, Trevecca should offer a four-year nursing degree, and it certainly fits our mission.

The fuel that drives our conviction is not just that Trevecca can graduate skilled nurses for our hospitals and clinics. If this were the case, we would simply join the countless other community colleges and state schools that have nursing education. Our conviction is that Trevecca can produce a particular type of nurse. Trevecca can graduate Christian nurses who are the hands and feet of Jesus.

At some point, all of us will encounter a nurse in our most vulnerable moments. As a nurse, your faith can be a light in some of the most challenging circumstances. God will use you in the most incredible ways.

I’ll use a personal example from just a few months ago. My mom, Rosemary, was placed in hospice care in December of last year. My family came together to spend the last few days with her. We watched as her health continued to decline over a period of several days.

If you’ve ever experienced this, you know that it’s a very difficult process to watch a loved one pass. There is such a roller coaster of emotions—it’s the pain and anticipation of losing someone, it’s fear, it’s confusion. It’s also this weird sense of wanting to hold out hope that your loved one will get up out of bed and walk out of that room.

My family and I had developed a rhythm in this process. We would come together and sit with mom. It was good for us to be together because we could share stories and memories. At times, my mom was even able to interact with us. Those were precious moments.

We were several days in, and the main nurse walked into the room. She had always been so kind. She cared for my mom with such compassion. I mustered the courage to ask her how much longer it could be before my mom would pass.

She came over to me and said, “It won’t be long. I anticipate that it will be today. You’ll want to make sure that everyone is here.” She consoled me for a few minutes and then left the room.
 
A couple of hours later, my dad and I were talking while my mom slept. To our surprise, she woke up. I hopped off of the couch to check on her. She looked over at my dad and said, “Hey, I need you to help me get up. I need to get out of this bed. I need to go somewhere.” I think my dad was surprised, too. He said, “I can’t do that hon.”
 
I’ll be honest, I was kind of shocked that she was wide awake. She was sleeping most of the time, and this caught me completely off guard. She began to try and sit up, and I literally thought she might get out of the bed. She then looked at me and said, “Hey, get over here and get me out of this bed. I need to go. I need to leave.”
 
I didn’t really know what to do or say. The only words I could muster was, “Me, you want me to get you out of bed?” She responded, “I don’t care which one of you, just get me out of this bed.”
 
Now listen, she said this in her mom voice, and I reverted back to being a five year old for just a moment, and I literally almost went over to that bed. You never forget the mom voice. It solicits an immediate response or else…
 
She was so clear and present in that moment. She had energy that I hadn’t seen in days, and I literally thought she might get out of bed. It lasted for a couple of moments, then she fell back asleep.
 
I sat back down, and I was so confused. I thought, “There is no way she is going to pass away today. Maybe the nurse was wrong.”
 
About an hour later, the nurse came back into the room, and I walked out with her after she checked on my mom. I told her about my mom’s behavior, and I asked if she still thought that my mom would pass. I literally said these words to her, “Listen, my mom literally tried to get out of bed. She said she wanted to leave—she has to go.”
 
You see, within us, there is always this hope that we don’t have to let go—I wanted the nurse to understand what I was seeing. Deep down inside, I wanted the nurse to tell me my mom wasn’t going to die.
 
What she said will stay with me forever, and it’s a glimpse of the vision of nursing education at Trevecca. She said, “Tom, yes, I still think she will pass today, but your mom is preparing to leave. Her spirit knows she has somewhere to be—she feels that urgency, but she doesn’t understand that her body won’t go with her. She is preparing to go home…”  
 
That nurse was right—my mom passed away that evening and is now rejoicing in heaven. No more pain…no more illness. She was an amputee, and I believe she ran into heaven.

This team of nurses cared for my mother in such a special way, but they also cared for my family as we anticipated great loss. They served my dad with food, encouragement, reading materials. They answered his questions and checked on him. They cared for my siblings and me—constantly asking if we were okay. They asked if they could get us anything. They asked if we had questions, they consoled us and encouraged us.
 
Yes, your education in nursing will help you heal people and even save lives. But I need you to know this today, you also have an amazing opportunity to heal grieving souls. There will be times when the body is broken and it cannot be healed. It is moments like this that the conviction of how things should be will be fulfilled—you are the hands and feet of Jesus. God can and will use you.
 
This is why I believe Trevecca will make the best nurses on the planet. You will be skilled in handling the medical side of treatment, but you will also be empowered with the Holy Spirit for moments just like my personal story. You’ll never do this on your own. God is with you.
 
We have a vision for nursing at Trevecca—a clear mental picture of how things could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be. We believe this work not only heals the body, but it tends to the soul. We look boldly into the future with confidence that we will lead and serve in ways that honor God. And we are just getting started.