The Joy of Being a Christian Physician

Occasionally God allows us to see our role in the process of building His kingdom.  As health-care workers we are privileged to offer advice regarding the diseases that afflict our patients, bringing both comfort and healing to their bodies.  But treating the physical is only part of our calling.  God calls us to integrate our faith in the process as well as giving Him all the credit for the result.

In the International Saline course we learn about the importance of integrating faith and medicine to bring about healing of the body and healing of the soul.  We use faith flags to identify ourselves as people who believe in God and project the hope we have in Christ.

Recently, I received a call from a mother with a 10-year-old son who developed an abscess on his knee from a small wound.  She was very concerned because despite lancing the lesion and trying to remove the purulent material, the infection was getting worse.  This was quite painful for her son.  The next step would be to go to the hospital which neither the mother nor the child was eager to do.  What else could be done?

Normally, I do not recommend treating patients over the phone.   But on those occasions when I do, I tell the patient what to expect and when to call back so they don’t develop a false sense of security and delay more appropriate treatment, creating a worse situation.  I prescribed an antibiotic, warm compresses three times a day and gave specific directions about what to expect.  I told her I would be praying for her son.

After several days I called to learn what happened and this is what she told me.

“After the first day of antibiotics we were not really seeing any improvements.  I am so glad you told me to wait for the second day or I would have been very nervous.  We had two groups of people praying.  My son was really afraid to have to go to the doctor to be “cut up” so to speak.  On the evening of the second day of antibiotics, the inflammation was less and the circle of redness for the first time had started to become smaller.  Praise God!  In the morning of the third day we saw a miracle.  It was completely healed.  No redness and the opening where the pus was coming out had closed.  It was as if it had been healed a week before.  We nevertheless continued with the antibiotics.

“One of the sweet things I got to see from my son was that after each cleaning, still with tears in his eyes, he would come and hug me and give me thanks for cleaning his wound.  What an amazing opportunity the Lord gave me to see that my son understands: that we who try to heal sometimes produce pain for the benefit of our patients, as does God.  I was so proud of his courage in this ordeal.  At the end, he became stronger, he understood very clearly the power of prayer, he experienced first hand the power of medicine and he gave Glory to God for it all!

“We have been blessed!  Thank you again for direction and for the “peace” you gave me over the phone!  You have blessed me, my son and my family!  Indeed, it is by His grace and it is for His glory!”

God used my words to offer hope to this family and revealed His eternal purpose in the process to this mother and her son.

Thank you God for your encouragement and for teaching us how we can be your instruments of both temporal and spiritual healing.  May we always remember to give you the credit for our success.