Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. James 5:13 Our physicians interact with us during some of the most important moments of our lives. They start at our birth, they tend us throughout our lives and often times are even at our deathbeds. Every one of these events are bursting with spiritual significance, and yet most of us are afraid to talk about any spiritual concerns that may involve our physical health care with our physicians, much less they with us. In many cases it may be out of fear that such conversations would be inappropriate or maybe cause offense, even though many patients desire to discuss these matters with their physicians. Some physicians appear to be afraid of this topic because they themselves are not spiritually minded or that they worry that it will be misunderstood and may cross an ethical line with their patients somehow and so they too will avoid the subject. Some people may say that they do not want a physician who is concerned for their spiritual welfare and wellbeing as long as they take care of their physical needs. But come time to pass from this world into the next, everything changes. All of sudden, they will take any spiritual advice and concerns or prayers that they can get from anyone. While we want, hope and even pray for our physicians to be confident in our healthcare decisions, many of us are grateful for those rare physicians who pray with their patients and family members over those decisions, which in turn puts a certain sense of comfort in us, while other physicians may leave us with a feeling of dread and lack of confidence in them because they do not have the knack to humanize the spiritual with the scientific. Most people want more than physicians just giving us information, we want to know that they truly have our backs and may even go beyond the normal to put us at ease, even if it means to go a little out of their comfort zones to comfort us.
It only makes sense to me that our physical healing and
coping psychologically with our illnesses may be compromised, if we are
experiencing spiritual distress in them. While we may be seeking our peace from
God, it is not up to us to say how He may bring it about. Sometimes when my
heart is heavy over a matter, a precious friend only need to say, “I’m praying
for you today” and peace covers over the anxiety that seems to trouble me. God
never intended for us to be alone. We are a needy people, we need God foremost
and we need those that believe in God and understand that they themselves are a
limited and finite people; that regardless of their knowledge and standing in
and of this world, there is still a Higher authority and power over us all. I
am convinced that prayer is one of the best kept secrets in medicine and if for
no other reason, to give us comfort and help as we bring our prayers to
troubled people. While Hospital Chaplains can fulfill a crucial role in many
health care settings, I can assure you from a personal standpoint that not even
having a Chaplain pray over you can compare to having the hands that are about
to cut into your body pray over you before he places his surgical knife on you.
Physicians humanize medicine, when they infuse it with a compassionate quality
that answers our inner spiritual needs as well as the needs of our physical
bodies. I have had a number of physicians in my lifetime, but only one stands
high above all the others, and it is because he prayed over me before he
started any medical procedure on me. This morning, my granddaughter had surgery
and while it was somewhat of a simply procedure because of her heart issues her
parents had deeper concerns. When their physician spoke with them about their
concerns, he laid his hand on our granddaughter and prayed for himself, the
child and the parents. While not everyone may have share the same feelings as I
do about the spiritual and the physical, I for one say to our physicians that
do pray over us and our friends and loved ones, a huge thank you and God Bless
you for it!
Loving on you
today!
Bren
