A reality check...

I vividly remember sitting in a missions night for medical students back about 4 years ago. I was very excited about medical missions, and was looking forward to the stories and testimonies of a number of returned missionaries.

However, probably my only lasting memory of the night was that of a middle-aged GP. This sincere man shared about his 2 years of service in a mission hospital during the 80s. There were plenty of great stories, but he also described how he ended his time of service stressed, depressed and burnt out. The experience obviously had a profound effect on him (and he was still active with helping send-out missos), but he himself never returned. A catastrophic experience with an obstructed labour seemed to have been the final straw, and he left the country in distress.

At the time I remember trying to convince myself that it was good to have a “balanced” view on the realities of missionary service. That perhaps at times I had a tendency to romanticize the excitement of missions life, and it was good to realize that it wasn’t all smooth sailing. However being the eternal optimist that I am, I probably didn’t think that this man’s story was something that I would ever be able to identify with.

Well - 6 months into life in rural Africa, I certainly can identify with some of the challenges this good doctor described. Life as a bush doctor is constant and demanding at times. There are long days, late nights and long stretches without days off. The work is difficult and often tragic.  The resources are limited.  Home life also has it's struggles with the distance from family and friends at home, and the regular lack of things like electricity. It's often easy to feel so consumed by life in our little corner of Zambia, that seeing the big picture is difficult.

I certainly don’t want this post to be taken out of context, as although some of these struggles have been very real during these past 6 months in Zambia, overall my (and our family’s) experience here has been one of great blessing. There is so much that we have enjoyed about living here! In fact we would whole-heartedly recommend this sort of experience to others, and we ourselves will leave here knowing that God may very well lead us back to this sort of work in the future.

To finish, I thought I might share a few short lessons that I pray I am learning through the challenging times here, and also a couple of verses that have been a great comfort during these darker and more difficult moments.

-    That God’s characteristics are not bound by my feelings

-    How to better bear the burdens of others

-    To be honest with myself and others regarding how I’m traveling

-    How to rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn

-    How to be genuinely empathetic to those who are suffering depression and anxiety

-    To consciously commit every concern I have to the One who is able to bear these burdens

-    That God doesn’t promise a smooth ride in life, he just promises to be there through it all

-    Psalm 42:11 – “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.”

-   2 Corinthians 1:3-4 - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."   - d