In a moment of prayer

It was a fun morning in the office, as we were joking around about old songs we used to listen to in high school. There were lots of smiles and laughs (which, let’s be honest, is not hard to make me do). As the conversation died down, I zoned into my work. It was going pretty well, and then one of the team members walked into the room. He said a few words and the mood immediately changed in the room. We turned off the music, closed our laptops and bowed our heads.

We received a text from my supervisor, who is on the medical mission in Basra right now. This mission was scheduled intentionally to handle the more complicated medical cases. From his text, we learned that one of the children was fighting for his life on the table. It was a baby boy. He's so young, I thought.

The text said, “Medicine has run its course and he is in need of miracle.”

Everyone felt for the family and this baby, and we took a moment to pray for a long time, lifting up the baby, the family and the medical professionals.  

I wasn’t expecting anything like this. We had recorded over 11 successful surgeries on this mission at this point, and I guess my fairy-tale-mind just felt more comfortable thinking about never having to encounter the worse case scenario. This is not healthy, as the worse is very much a real part of life.

In the moment, I was saddened, concerned, hopeful and yet trying to keep myself from all the questions of “why.”

These were my feelings alone, and I could not fully imagine the parents’ thoughts at the time.

I continued to listen to the prayer, and I was thankful for the wisdom behind it.

Of course we prayed for the family in the waiting area and the nursing staff in the ICU looking after the baby, but we also prayed for the medical staff in another way, that I don’t think I have ever had to think about before. We prayed that they did not overstep or in anyway rob this child of few more days with his parents. Powerful, I thought.

This  made me reflect more, and it challenged me in different ways as it relates to medicine and my area of studies, but it also just reinforces an aspect of truth: We rely so much on medicine sometimes, but it’s clear that the power remains in someone else’s hands.