My experience in Ecuador this past November reminded me of a few things about God:
- Nothing takes Him by surprise
- His timing is perfect
- We have a to communicate with Him
I had the incredible opportunity to fulfill the call of God of my life to go and serve in Ecuador. Now let me preface my experience in Ecuador by saying that I’ve known I was called to missions since 2010. I felt God’s love and passion light a fire inside of me to go and spread his message across the world. Furthermore, not only did He call me to be a missionary, but a medical missionary at that—a physician. The process of applying for medical school was challenging and difficult, but ultimately when I received my acceptance, I believed He was confirming His purpose in my life by giving me the desires of my heart (Psalms 37:4). This confirmation made me feel close to Him, as if He knew my heart. Also, it made me feel connected on an intimate level. And finally, I felt a sense of honor, because He was entrusting me to take care of His people by becoming a doctor.
Alas, my journey through medical school to become a physician stood out as the polar opposite of the connectedness I felt earlier. Plainly speaking, medical school changed how I viewed myself. I struggled. I felt alone. I failed. I became lost as a result of my struggles. During this time, my support system was far away. Thus, day by day, I faded away as the external pressures that medical school placed on my life started to drown out the once internal belief that I was where God called me to be. “How could God be with me now?” I asked myself as I struggled with depression and brokenness. I wanted to die because I truly believe that death would be easier than facing the requirements I had to meet. But, my story didn’t end there. I couldn’t see what God was doing, but He could. Even when I doubted if I could make it, He knew I would and He also had a PLAN.
Fast forward from 2015 to 2018. It was a Day 5 of my mission and I was feeling the weight of seeing 40-50 patients a day. I was getting in the mundane routine of seeing patients, treating their sickness, praying with them, and sending them on their way. In this particular community every patient was a believer and belonged to a church. Yet, I found myself talking to Maria who began to tell me her story. Her chief complaint was “depression” on her medical slip. It stood out as a stark contrast to me because most of the people I had previously seen had a chief complaint of “pain.” Now, often times, pain can mask depression, but this patient knew her malady- loneliness of the heart. Her daughter recently died, leaving her to live alone. She did not have any other family members who she was close to. She belonged to a house church that met weekly. Something prompted me to ask her if she was getting “fed” at her church and she stated that she was when she was there. I responded with “what do you do when you are not at church?” She didn’t understand me that well. So, I asked, “do you have a way to encourage yourself throughout the week when you are at home?” Her shoulders started to slump and her expression darkened. She and the translator began to talk back and forth and I learned that she did not have a way of reading a bible because she could not see well. Her sight was failing her. I quickly took action. Remembering that we had ibuprofen packs with verses attached to them, I called over to the pharmacy student, “Hey, can you throw me a pack of medication?” In my mind, I knew that if I could speak the words of the Bible over her, she would be made well. The pack of medication comes flying into my hand from across to the room. I quickly handed it to the translator who translates the verse to Maria, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5). Maria and I shared this moment with tears, because we both felt God’s presence. Just years before I lost sight of my situation not because of a physical blindness like Maria but because of a spiritual one, and yet, we felt the same— alone. BUT, God had a different plan. Though we felt alone, we weren’t. I was sent from 1000 miles away to tell her, she was not alone. He knew I would meet Maria and He knew when- in the pinnacle of her loneliness. And, yet, He reminded me of my own experience years prior, though I felt alone, I was not abandoned.
The Upward Twist was the medium through which God sent me to Ecuador and to Maria. I signed up for the trip, requested time off, and started to process of raising money, but the Upward Twist provided the monetary means to go. I saw hundreds of patients, but I was sent for Maria.
And most importantly:
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ (Luke 15:4-7 NASB)
Even for one person, for one sheep named Maria, traveling 1000s of miles is worth it. At least, that’s what Jesus implied.