I dont know if its a heart attack or what it is, the middle-aged woman said with a quiver in her voice to Kathy Respess, a registered nurse at the local family practice medical office. I get these sharp pains on the right side of my chest that really scare me. As Kathy asked a few questions to further assess the medical situation, she became aware of an underlying problem: mental anguish. The patients husband had divorced her a year ago, after their only child died in a car accident. Now here she was, feeling all alone, aging and betrayed even by her body. Tears trickled down her face.
People often react physically to the emotional wounds in their lives. This patient was afraid about her health and felt she didnt have anyone who could help her, Kathy said. I talked with her about what Christ did for us and how we are never alone when we have Him in our heart. Within minutes of entering the examining room, Kathy guided the patient as she prayed to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord.
Many medical professionalsnurses, doctors, dentists, physical therapists, psychiatrists and othersuse their profession as a bridge to share their faith. Seen by their patients as authority figures, the words of medical professionals often are heeded when the subject of faith comes up. Medical professionals are able during repeat visits to follow up professions of faith or to continue sowing seeds of faith in God.
The Christian-owned family practice where Dr. Patricia Barrington works keeps boxes of marked Bibles in patient rooms and uses them in on mission conversations with patients. Its wrong to use my position as a physician to cram something down their throats that they dont want to hear, but its not wrong to tell them about Christ if they are willing to hear, Dr. Barrington said. I dont proceed unless I sense thats what they want. When youre on mission with God, He does the work. I can treat them, but I cant make them better.
Dr. Barrington often asks patients if they would mind if she prays with them. In five years, only two have said no. I pray that God would wrap His loving arms around them and let them know Hes the great physician, she said. I ask Him to take care of them. Thats when they usually start crying, because they take their focus off their problems and see there is Someone who can help. I end the prayer by asking for wisdom that I will treat them properly.
If they continue to cry and say Everything is going wrong in my life. I need some help, then I say I know God really loves you. Would it be okay with you if I shared how you could have more peace?
Many patients feel unloved, guilt-ridden and hopeless, in addition to their physical ailmentssome of which may be manifestations of spiritual turmoil. Most have heard that Jesus died on the cross but dont know what that means for them on a personal level. Depending on the prompting of the Holy Spirit and how crowded her waiting room is, Dr. Barrington might write a scripture verse on a prescription pad and give it to the patient, go through the plan of salvation using a marked Bible, or ask if the patient would be willing to talk with a Christian nurse.
Dr. Barrington wasnt always so outspoken at her work about her faith. She attended a Saline Solutions seminar hosted by the Christian Medical Society five years ago. I became aware that God depends on us to help bring people along the road of faith. As a physician I had a perfect opportunity to do this and yet was only helping them physically. At the conference she learned comfortable words and phrases to introduce faith into conversations with patients, and she also learned to recognize their receptivity to the gospel.
Prior to that, if patients brought up spiritual concerns, I might refer them to a pastor, but now I person-ally do it because I think its every Christians responsibility, she said.
I always believed that but didnt feel I could do it. Now I feel so much better about taking the opportunities that were always there. It also helped that she transferred to a Christian-owned practice where she felt totally free to share her faith.
On mission Christians can help medical professionals:
Pray for them to be alert to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Direct family members, friends and coworkers to medical professionals who share the gospel as part of their professional care.
Offer to be a resource person for the medical professional.
I have a small network of people I refer patients to, Dr. Barrington said. If a woman comes in with breast cancer who is really troubled, Ill tell her I know a lady like you. Shes a pastors wife whos gone through a lot of the same things you have with breast cancer. Would it be all right if I gave her your name and phone number? Support groups are good, but sometimes it helps just to have another person whos gone through that and is a little further along. Dr. Barrington always lets the patient know the person she would refer them to is a Christian who will add the faith element to the healing process.
Dr. Larry Lundy is a podiatrist whose faith bubbles out of him like the effervescent tablets he sometimes prescribes for his patients feet. I look for opportunities to tell people about the difference Jesus has made in my life, he said. I pray to God to show me where Im needed. He has patients dependent on twice-a-day public transportation, which means they would sit in his office all day if he didnt take them home in his minivan. And as he drives, he shares the joy in his heart, which often starts with Psalm 39. I tell them, if you believe and have faith, thats the key, Dr. Lundy said. I tell them, Please pray for me and often well say a little prayer together. I dont force anything. It just comes.
Dr. Albert Lee is a dentist who segues small talk into matters of greater importance. It comes out when they ask what you did this weekend, he said. I often ask my patients to come to church with me. Then, as we get to know each other better, Im able to share my faith at a deeper level. Braces and teeth bleaching, like SUVs and Caribbean cruises, mask his patients real need to have a life of substance and not just things of substance.
Numerous studies in recent years have shown the link between faith and health. Christian medical professionals not only know this, theyre doing something about it.
One doctors dream Dr. Ronald Coleman, a surgeon from Cleveland, Tennessee, has traveled to Bangledesh and Honduras as a medical missionary. But he also knew that people in his own hometown were slipping through the cracks of the health care system. His burden for those people birthed a vision, and so the Good Samaritan Clinic opened its doors in Cleveland.
Dr. Colemans goal was to provide a spiritual witness with free medical care. The clinic, open one night a week, is staffed by volunteers, primarily Christian professionals, who offer their skills on a rotating basis. Other experts are available for referral. Some pharmacists also participate, giving patients access to a voucher system for medicine.
One of their first patients was a man with melanoma. He had endured one surgery, but did not have insurance for more treatment. His illness was terminal, but he was able to receive a second surgery and treatment that prolonged his life. This man ultimately came to know the Lord. The clinic really made a difference in his life, said Dr. Coleman. He also remembers a troubled teen who came for treatment. Her home life was filled with difficulties and her greatest needs were emotional. The clinic was the only means for someone to come into her life with some positive input.
Ephesians 4:l (KJV) calls us to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Those serving at Clevelands Good Samaritan Clinic certainly walk worthy. And Dr. Colemans advice to others considering such a ministry? Go for it! The need is there.
Lettie J. Kirkpatrick
Dr. William Choctaw, a general trauma surgeon and burn specialist who also serves as chief of staff at his Los Angeles hospital, often prays with his patients, such as a man facing leg amputation, a burn patient whose pain is beyond comprehension, a cancer patient who will wear a colostomy bag the rest of her life. Often Ill hold their hands and pray with them as they go under [the anesthesia], Dr. Choctaw said. I encourage them to pray. I have seen for myself that the patients who have faith appear to do better than those who dont. I definitely see a difference when they have faith because then they have hope and peace. They understand there is Someone else who is in control, so they dont have to be.
More ways on mission Christians can help medical professionals:
Offer to provide transportation for patients, and use the one-on-one opportunities for faith-based discussions.
Arrange relationship-building get-togethers for a medical professional to invite selected patients.
Provide tracts and subscriptions of Christian publications such as On Mission or Go! for medical offices and hospital waiting rooms.
Support worthy Christian medical causes.
Christian counselor Anthony Harper, Ph.D., has a vision for a free Christian psychiatric hospital for children and teens who suffer from depression and related issues. Plans have been drawn and money is being raised for a $10 million facility, which was incorporated in 1997 in Idaho as the Children of Hope Family Hospital. A significant amount of researchand the holy Biblesay we can only be healthy if were connected to God, Harper said. There is no other healthy way. He has led at least 40 people to the Lord through his donation-based counseling practice since 1997.
Dr. Constant Lu makes a point of bringing in his Christian faith during consultations with his dental patients. He stays alert to opportunities the Holy Spirit gives him to share his faith, such as when a businessman came in a year ago with an emergency. In talking with him I found out he was going through lots of spiritual turmoil. I had a brief conversation with him then about the gospel. A bit later we talked on the phone. Recently he came in just to let me know in the last couple of weeks he has given his life to the Lord and part of that was due to his remembering what we had talked about.
Sometimes Dr. Lu takes out his prescription pad and prescribes an appropriate scripture passage or Christian book. Sometimes he prays with patients who tell him the turmoil theyre going through. Sometimes they just open up, Dr. Lu said. Thats Gods timing. He opens the door to allow some spiritual work.
Dr. Lu starts each workday with staff prayer that even the two non-Christians in his office participate in, though he tells them its not mandatory. My silent prayer is that they will come to know God through this. I believe I have a ministry to them as well as to my patients.
Nurse Kathy Respess agrees. Part of her ministry is to the staff. I think my biggest testimony is to other employees, to make sure my work ethic matches what I say I believe. Recently the husband of one of the precious young ladies in the office left her. I have encouraged her, and its an ongoing, daily thing. I tell her I dont have the answers, but God does.
Still more ways on mission Christians can help medical professionals:
Pray for the salvation of non-Christians in the office.
Model Christian behavior with the staff.
Encourage the medical professional through stories of what God is doing in your life right now.
Drs. Frank (left) and Daveta (right) Dozier examine daughter, Julie (center front) under the watchful eye of nurse Laurelle Stoudemire (back). They are doctorsand on mission24 hours a day.
Were doctors 24 hours a day, explains Dr. Daveta Dozier. Because she and her husband, Dr. Frank Dozier, live in a small town, the lines between their social and professional lives occasionally blur. As such they are role models and authority figures in their community. Sometimes people need literally to be on their backs to see up, to see the Lord at work in their lives. We welcome knowing other on mission Christians wholike usrecognize health problems as evangelism opportunities.
One more way on mission Christians can help medical professionals:
Help provide equipment, supplies or Bibles for medical professionals who do medical missions outside the office.
Dr. Lu takes his staff to minister with him one Saturday a month at a nursing home. He also goes annually to Mexico and occasionally to the Philippines. Dr. Lundy goes every other month to inner-city Chicago. Dr. Choctaw goes every month to Mexico. Dr. Barrington takes one international trip a year; last year was to Jamaica with toiletry kits of toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, comb, soap and washcloth. Kathy Respess took five footlockers of shoes and socks to an orphanage in Romania last year.
Always it comes back to one-on-one on mission encounters.
Ive gone in several times with a Bible and gone through the plan of salvation with a patient, Kathy said. I very clearly share the Lord and the fact that Hes the hope I have, and that all of us could have.
I talk to people about the Lord all the time because thats a big part of me. The Bible says to always be ready to share the hope you have.
I dont feel its anything I have to force. The Holy Spirit has to be drawing them or its just me forcing a decision. If a person is ready to accept the Lord its very obvious. If theyre not, I just give them something to think about.
Karen L. Willoughby is a freelance writer and photographer living in Vancouver, Washington.
To begin a health care ministry, see Ministry Action Plan 9 in His Heart, Our Hands. Available at local Lifeway Christian Stores, www.lifewaystores.com, or 800-448-8032. Another resource: The Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship, 901-227-5971.