Applying the learning

Mid-afternoon on a lovely day I was hanging out at Sheila’s house at the back of our campus when Teddy came up to the open door to inform me that a little girl was at the clinic and had cut her head; it would probably need stitches.  Off to the clinic with a prayer, a young man who helps in the clinic was walking across the yard to meet me.   He knows how to do sutures but as we talked through what we might find upon examination, he voted that this one was mine.  She was such a sweet patient.  She was perfectly still and compliant, even when big tears rolled slowly down her face.  Praying all the while, gathered what I’d need and began. After all the prep, lidocaine has taken effect and I’m just getting ready to start the first stitch when the generator battery runs out and we’re left in the almost dark clinic room.   So by the flashlight on a phone, Jesus just took us through. I was amazed the way he let me speak and move with a calm that came only from grace.  Near the end the lights did come back on.  

As part of the program here we are reading through a book together called Experiencing God.  At the end of each day’s reading and work, it asks you to write out the statement or verse that most stood out to you, something to carry with you at the front of your thoughts throughout the day.  Today I was thinking about this quote: you do not have the ability to carry out the Lord’s commands except to be where he wants you to be.  With that it referenced Jeremiah 18:1-6, talking about the potter and the clay. The clay must remain in the potter’s hands, both to be formed, and to be used.  If shaped into a cup, the cup must be in his hands to be used as a cup, in the way the potter chooses.  It does nothing just sitting on a shelf autonomously. I show up where he says to go; He does the work.  “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Phil. 2:13).  Also reading a book called Where There is No Doctor" and the responsibility to use and share whatever knowledge you acquire. In many ways today was about applying what I'm learning and sharing it.