This is Why I'm Here

My Christmas started at 5:30 this morning with a phone call.  I was being summoned to the clinic to see a friend who I’ve been doing OB/GYN care for over this past year.  After nearly a year of trying to conceive, and some problems with ovarian cysts, she finally was expecting.  At almost three-months along, I saw her for her first OB appointment on Thurs this last week and immediately had some concerns.  I shared these concerns with both her and her husband.  She was to follow up with me just before I leave for the states next week. I told them to call me sooner if there were any problems.  They were calling this morning to tell me that she was bleeding.

With a heavy heart I got dressed and made the walk to the clinic. As I saw hints of the coming sunrise spreading across the sky this Christmas morning, I asked the Lord “Why? Why today on Christmas does she have to lose this baby she has been longing for?  Why ever Lord?”  I can’t say that I got an answer.  But what I did feel was a calm assurance that this is why I’m here.

This is why I’m in the medical profession.  This is why I’m here in Africa.  This is why I’m here on earth.  God has a calling on my life to use the skills that he has given me to reach out and touch others with a tangible expression of his love.  I don’t know why my friend has to suffer.  But I can be there to walk through the process with her.  I can explain what is happening to her and her husband in a way that they can understand the physical process and know what to expect.  I can ease her physical pain, and hopefully her emotional pain a bit as well.

I took a deep breath and walked in the room.  Tears were streaming down my friend’s face.  Her husband looked up with huge relief when he saw me walk in.  “I’m so glad you came” he said.  I confirmed that they were in fact experiencing a miscarriage.  We spent a while talking about what had likely happened and how she needed to be cared for right now.  I gave her some medicine to ease the pain. I held her in my arms and cried with her.  We prayed together.  It was somehow a sacred moment even through the pain. 

And later as I walked home to prepare for Christmas breakfast with my family I thought again, this is why I’m here….