This is one of my wife’s favorite Civil War heroism stories. It is a story all need to consider.

The Civil War was a horror in many ways, but none more terrible than injuries and medical care. The medical standards at the beginning of the war were primitive at best. Doctors were still bleeding patients as a treatment. They knew nothing of germs and little of surgery. The list of what they didn’t have could go on for a long time. They did have determination and spent the next four years birthing modern medicine. No story is more powerful than the nurses.

Women were a subjugated people at the time of the war. The Victorian morality was in full swing, especially in the South. It was common that a soldier had never been touched by any woman other than his mother, sister, or wife. Severe social rules were in effect regarding men and women, especially on the women. The social structure was completely male dominated, and society did not accept independent women who were not subservient.

Women followed their men to the war and came to hospitals to provide care. They were run off and not allowed at the beginning. They endured and pressed in until they were given light duties. The light duties gave way to more and more until women ran hospitals by the end of the war and created the woman dominated nursing career path. There are few or no monuments to this phenomenal feat of heroism. They overcame society, social structure, prejudice in every level, and their own inner wars to create something that still stands in honor among the traits of greatness of the best values.

So why discuss women’s heroism in a Christian blog? You can’t talk about the qualities of love, peace, joy, honor, justice, self control, and the like qualities without talking about God — even when His name or title isn’t mentioned. It is through these great qualities that we meet and see Him. These qualities don’t exist without some level of His presence. It is easy to get distracted and forget that God is at work everywhere, all the time, whether we see Him or not and whether we cooperate or not. His plan is a no fail, no surrender, always faithful plan of rescue that is at work in all levels of human experience. He embodies the best of the greatest values. We want Him around because we desire His qualities.