I’ve been in the US for three months now. Something that I miss terribly is daily group prayer. In Shell we prayed every day at the beginning of rounds, at the beginning and end of our weekly staff meeting and we had a weekly Men’s Bible Study.
Here at the secular university, we don’t do any of that. Except for a very few patients, like maybe once a week or less, I don’t get to pray with patients. I miss group prayer. Jesus says where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is there. I pray for patients, but it’s not the same as praying with them. I pray for students, residents and colleagues, but it’s not the same as praying with them. We have rounds to discuss the patients, but they don’t start with prayer. I miss beginning the right way, in the Name of Jesus, very much.
The university is treating very well. I love the work; taking young doctors at various ranges of training and helping them move to the next level is the best part of my day. I have the privilege of teaching very new doctors how to look in eyes and ears all the way to doctors about to graduate how to find a job and not get cheated on their contracts. I also see patients, which is what pays my salary. But my heart feels empty at times without the prayer.
I’m praying more with my wife, and we are in a small group at church that meets twice a week, but it’s not the same as every day prayer for our patients, for wisdom and compassion in treating our patients and their families.
I’ll just have to keep praying on my own to the Lord, and praying for more brothers and sisters in Christ to pray with.
