Good Like a Medicine

Eric and I returned this afternoon from a wonderfully refreshing time together, which was a retreat weekend for Medical Campus Outreach. It was at a gorgeous old plantation with marvelous views. We were so blessed to be able to lead them in worship this weekend, and our hearts were enriched and revived with fellowship and the preached Word of God. The speaker is a medical doctor serving as a full-time missionary, husband, and father to ten beautiful children. I think Eric and are still swelling from the wisdom he offered. He is so full of passion, wisdom, and love [from and] for Jesus Christ.

The medical students, doctors, and their families are becoming tremendous blessings in our lives. We are thankful for these times when we can get to know them more and see their love for God in action. They truly inspire and encourage us. Two of the doctors’ wives, Amy and Lisa, have large numbers of children who are being educated at home, and I absolutely love sitting at their feet and learning from discussing relevant topics with them. They are so joyful, and I look up to them a lot!

I wish I could share all that the Dr. H. taught us this weekend, but I am beyond spent and would do no justice to his teaching. I would like to summarize his main points, which, like everything he said, is firmly planted in the Word of God.

Margin in the Christian life
To grow and thrive as God desires Christians must allow some time every day to meet with God and a Sabbath every week. Followers of God must also have enough financial margin to be able to follow the Lord and minister to others as God opens doors. If no margin is there, there is dryness and ineffectiveness. I love how Dr. H. describes his story of graduating medical school and attacking the educational and consumer debt in eight years so that their family could leave and be full-time missionaries. He says the key is living modest, simple lives and cutting out debt and the desire to spend. He also recalls a time when he was given an opportunity to join a team full-time overseas but had to decline because he wasn’t ready financially and counts that as a regret and lesson learned in always working so that we can say “yes” when needs arise.

The effectiveness of scars
Everyone has wounds that have left terrible scars. If these wounds are not healed soon after the tragedy occurs, the scars can take much longer to mend. Some women suffer rape, abuse, and others have scars of death, accidents, or other tragedies. Some couples suffer through miscarriages, infertility, abortions, or infant death, and some people recover from powerful addictions. Doctor H. remembers a terrible time of loneliness during medical school. His point is that although we naturally try to ignore, bury, or forget the scars in our lives, we should realize that those are the very tools that God uses to make us most effective to minister the love of Christ to others. We can comfort others tremendously with these scars. He suggests that if someone is not sure where God wants to use him, he should look for scars in his life and with those scars he will find his ministry. (Wow! Good point!)

The importance of Christian leadership
Because this was a retreat for medical professionals, much of the teaching was geared towards them, but my husband and I still took his points and learned so much from them. He talked about leadership and how Christian leaders know the personalities of the people under their care. They know how to drive “plow horses” and how to steer “stallions.” They don’t usurp their authority but instead downplay it and serve others. When attacked with spears like David and Saul, they don’t retaliate but make peace and trust in God. Above all Christian leaders don’t look over their shoulders to see who, if anyone, is following. They do what is right in the eyes of God at all times, not the eyes of man.

This was some great stuff to my ears. Not only was this good, but the constant encouragement and appreciation from the group for Eric and me was fantastic. We were loved on this weekend, and we were blessed by a few days to be “Eric and Kristi” and not “Daddy and Mommy.” We really needed this, and I am so glad we had the chance to go. We look forward to doing this again in a few months!

(PS - The best part of the weekend was probably the two consecutive mornings of sleeping until 9 am… and taking a fat nap in the afternoon Saturday…and eating and talking with Eric with no fear of being interrupted or rushed! The funniest part of the weekend was Eric and I borrowing old bikes from the plantation and watching Eric on that bike looking like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. I told him he looked like Pee-wee Herman, but he said, “No, look at me. I’m Doc Brown.” Too bad I didn’t snap a picture.)