Called to His Service
Florence Nightingale heard God's voice clearly at age seventeen: "God spoke to me and called me to His service." But what service? For years she wrestled, searching.
Her wealthy family was horrified when she announced she wanted to be a nurse. In 1850s England, nursing was considered barely respectable - hospitals were filthy, nurses often impaired.
But Florence persisted. She trained in Germany, then took charge of a small hospital in London.
The Hospital at Scutari
When the Crimean War began, she led 38 nurses to the military hospital at Scutari.
What they found was terrible. Wounded soldiers lay in their own filth. Rats and fleas everywhere. The death rate was 42 percent.
Florence worked twenty hours daily. She scrubbed floors, changed bandages, held dying men's hands.
The Lady with the Lamp
Each night she walked the four miles of corridors carrying her lamp, checking on patients. The soldiers called her "the Lady with the Lamp."
Within six months, she had reduced the death rate to 2 percent. She had proven that cleanliness, fresh air, and proper nutrition could save lives.
After the war, she revolutionized healthcare worldwide, founding modern nursing and pioneering medical statistics.
"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."