October 30, 2000
___Almost 10 years later, Ernst, now 58, actually thanks God for the virus that, rather than bringing her death, has helped her bring life to countless others through a catastrophic illness ministry Ernst started at First Baptist Church of Alta Loma in Santa Fe. This fall, the North American Mission Board's Mission Service Corps named her national volunteer of the year. ___"I can look in the mirror today and say, 'Thank you, Lord, for giving me this disease," Ernst said. ___It all started with a stranger. ___A woman, "off the street," was brought to the hospital where Ernst worked as a critical care nurse. The alcoholic woman had been beaten up and was very combative at the hospital. "I was drawing blood from her, ... using universal precautions," the nurse said. "She broke one of her restraints and hit my hand, and the needle went into my hand." ___The hospital staff did not know at the time that the woman was HIV positive. Ernst would not find out until months later, after she learned of her own infection, that the woman had died three weeks later and that she had the virus that leads to AIDS. ___When she learned about her own infection, Ernst prepared to die. She drew up a "physician's directive" and a will. ___But she didn't die. She didn't develop any of the opportunistic illnesses that indicate the movement from being HIV positive to AIDS. Emotionally, she swung from "one pendulum to another" as she began "preparing to live." ___The nurse fended off AIDS by aggressively pursuing medical help. "Getting the kind of medical help you need is essential if you're going to live any length at all," she said. And it's a "lifelong medication regimen." ___While battling the disease medically, Ernst also had to deal with the emotional trauma to her and to those who love her. She is divorced with three adult children. ___"My children were devastated," she said. "My oldest son just cried boo-koodles over the phone." ___Ernst made sure her children "got educated" about the disease, she said, but some of her friends turned her away. ___She moved to Santa Fe, about 30 miles south of Houston, and found something special there--a church that accepted and loved her. First Baptist Church of Alta Loma put its arms around her, she said. ___"I was very open and above board" about the illness, Ernst explained. "I was totally accepted into this church, and I give my pastors honor for that." ___But First Baptist didn't just show its care for Ernst. Al Magnus, associate pastor for administration and education at the church, said people who come to First Baptist from other churches are asked if they will be willing to serve. Ernst proved willing. ___"I began to look around me and see people in pain, and they weren't getting help," Ernst said. ___She had retired in 1997 at age 55. That same year, Janice and Joe Brooks introduced Ernst to Mission Service Corps and "that was when the doors finally began to open for me," she said. ___Sam Pearis, director of Mission Service Corps for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, then helped First Baptist put together a ministry plan. ___The Comfort Zone was born. It "exists to glorify God through the acceptance of and caring for those affected by or infected with catastrophic illness," a ministry brochure states. ___From July to September this year, Ernst ministered to 26 people with HIV, 22 victims of strokes, six with cancer, two with cardiac problems and two with Alzheimer's disease. ___"Catastrophic illnesses and trauma invade our families as uninvited intruders," Ernst said. Such illnesses leave emotional, financial, physical and spiritual scars. "They just kind of wear people out." ___Ernst, who usually spends at least 20 hours a week with the ministry, comes alongside people in such circumstances and walks the path with them, providing not only personal care but also helping them arrange for needed medical and community services. ___"Sometimes, because I know who to go to, I can get faster help for them," she said. "Plus, I'm hard-headed." ___"Mary is a very compassionate lady," Magnus said. She is able to deal with people where they are and does it in a non-condemning way. She "loves them through their circumstances." ___"Mary's never been afraid of anything, and she's never quit looking for what God would have her do," the associate pastor said. "She's just as much called to do what she does as I am called of God to do what I do. ... She's just another fellow minister as far as I'm concerned." ___The retired nurse has recruited others to work with her in the ministry, and Ernst now is "trying to write up an outline" for starting catastrophic illness ministries in response to letters and phone calls of inquiry she is receiving from throughout Texas. ___"I believe God gave this ministry," she said, "because when he got me prepared, then doors began to open." ___ The Baptist Standard
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