I’ve been thinking lately about why we do what we do.

For example – why am I in Health Care? I help facilitate the largest medical missions team in YWAM (Youth With A Mission). It’s the dream job! I get to lead teams of medical professionals, students, and volunteers with a whole range of experience and health care focuses. We run clinics, work in hospitals, educate on life-saving issues, and reach the poorest of the poor. I love it!

However, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a doctor. In fact, the thought of breaking someone’s skin with a needle was terrifying to me! I still gag at the smell of vomit, and the sight of a deep wound makes my stomach turn. The last thing I want to do is sit by a sick-bed and hold someone’s hand as they suffer… Sure, I can pull myself together and take care of someone who is sick, but do I LOVE these things? No!

So why am I here?

If you had asked me that just a couple of weeks ago, I would have said something along the lines of “I have experienced God’s love and want to share it with others.” But in thinking more about it, I realise, that’s not all.  There is more.

I love the power of influence.

Growing up as a missionary kid in Peru, I saw a lot of need. I saw people helpless in their ignorance and poverty. I saw people suffering because of a lack of basic health care. Often there was such corruption and lack of knowledge, even in the health care system, that things were missed and people got hurt. Even though no one in my family had any proper training or background in the medical field, we found ourselves tending to the community’s health care needs, simply because we had a basic understanding of hygiene, wound care, and taking care of sick people.  

I saw the gap in mother and child health, and I started to get excited about midwifery. That was the hook that pulled me in! When I came to YWAM Perth for training, I was fascinated by the incredible potential for good that Health Care holds. When you look at a poor community, the needs are obvious; you can see that things aren’t quite right. But when I look down at my hands, I see tools that can change that! And oh, does that get me excited!

As the family of God, we have such an incredible opportunity to influence people with health care services that will not only bring physical change, but that have the potential and power to create new life, pure joy, and eternal hope!

 A student that trained with us shared a simple, yet powerful statement that I think of often:

“I used to watch the news and see people overseas in desperate situations, but now, I’ve been there in person. I’ve made a difference in the 5 o’clock news!”

The ability to go into a situation and change it from bad to good, from devastating to hopeful, from impossible to completed… that’s the power of the Gospel. That’s the power of health care surrendered to the Holy Spirit. That’s what God, our Healer is about.

And that’s why I’m in Health Care.

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