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From Luke’s Journal May 2025 | Vol. 30 No. 1 | MIMBY

The Mission

Our desire as followers of Jesus is to serve and honour Him all our lives. Throughout history, society has valued Christianity for the community, the good morals it provides or the ‘deeper meaning’ it offers. These characteristics are but a reflection of something greater at work.

The beating heart of Christianity is Jesus, our Lord, Saviour and King. He is the One who shines light in the darkness, gives rest for the weary, healing to the sick, comfort to the distressed and raises the dead to life. We are on a mission as strangers here (1 Peter 1:17) who carry this glorious treasure of the goodness of King Jesus in jars of clay! (2 Cor 4:7). Our mission is to obey Jesus, disciple others and remember He is with us always, to the very end of the age (Matt 28:18-20).

What does it look like?

The mission we are on does not change through the years, but the outward expression of our faith must adapt to different life stages. I am going to share how these three aspects of the mission Jesus gave us (obeying Jesus, discipling others and remembering Christ with us) were worked out for me at different points of my medical journey along with some of my musings. I hope this can be an encouragement to think about how you can live for Jesus in whatever exciting, sometimes overwhelming, winding journey God is taking you on!

Medical School

Obey Jesus

There are two tendencies regarding study in medical school, either study minimally or excessively. A mantra I would stand by is ‘God has called us to be faithful not successful.’ This has been extrapolated from J. I. Packer’s book ‘Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God’, where he explains following Jesus in evangelism requires faithfulness but that does not mean we will see success through multiple converts. I think the same applies to studies at university and beyond.

Faithfulness should be the goal – not all-consuming excellence, nor grossly inadequate preparation for assessment. What this looks like is different for everyone! What a responsibility we have as Christians, because no one can see our hearts fully except our Lord (1 Sam 16:7). Faithfulness is truly between God and us. We will all stand before him one day to give an account. No one is perfect, but we are called to trust in His perfection. Will you trust him as you study and try to find a spiritually healthy medium between idolising your studies and neglecting them?

“Will you trust him as you study and try to find a spiritually healthy medium between idolising your studies and neglecting them?”

Personally, I used to fluctuate through medical school. I loved study, particularly the later years where my head knowledge related to real patients. At times I found myself engrossed in my studies, but often it was with an awe of how unfathomable God’s ways were in creating us. Studying brought me great joy and I am thankful to God for this as I know not everyone has this experience. I found that in my 5th year of study, I was strict with myself about having Sundays free from study. I remember waking up on Sunday morning excited to read a non-medical book and spend time in prayer and Bible reading. This was a healthy rhythm for me. We all have different capacities and responsibilities which influence how we spend our time. Self-understanding has helped me make these decisions with more wisdom.

Disciple others

The AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) and other Christian groups on university campuses provide extensive opportunities for training in Bible knowledge, Christian living and evangelism. I know many friends who became Christians at university through the work of these groups. During university years, you usually have time, youth and passion. Why not put all of these to use for God’s kingdom, growing yourself and pouring into others as you are able?

I found being part of a Christian group at university tremendously grew me in my faith in Jesus. I took risks in sharing Jesus with non-Christian friends and speaking out alternative, God-honouring opinions on hot topics like abortion, sexuality and materialism. I learnt habits of openness about my faith which has continued.

One of the challenges I found was a heavy guilt about how much I was doing or not doing. These feelings need to be interrogated. Guilt can be good if it is bringing sin to light, but it can also be harmful, when we have this general feeling of self-loathing in the absence of sin. These feelings ought to be worked out in relationship with Christians or older and wiser counsellors. You can always do more, but we need to rest and live life sustainably. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, and we will have to dash through hurdles at times. We need to pace ourselves, so we are ready for the sprints.

Remember Christ with you

Take comfort amidst failure, over-commitment or laziness – that Christ is with you! May the promise of His presence with you remind you of His faithfulness and love. May you be a ‘Mary’ and not a ‘Martha’ (see Luke 10:38-42). May your Godly prioritising of your time spur you on to love and good works! Reading God’s word, meeting with Christians around the Bible and praying helps us to remember Christ. Keeping a journal has personally been a source of great encouragement to me, allowing me to look back and see God’s work in my life – though not a book I would wish another’s eyes to peruse!

Internship and Junior Doctor years

Obey Jesus

Oh, the excitement of opening my first payslip! “What? Not another bill?! I’m getting paid!” The glorious relief! I remember using my first few pay packets to book a holiday to Europe and of course, paying off debt to my parents. Also with more money, comes more opportunity to be generous. It is so easy to squirrel it away or splurge on all the things you couldn’t have when you were a student! It’s so easy to justify whatever you do because you have worked hard and have ‘earned it’. But our money is ALL God’s. In fact, ALL that we have is from Him, including our medical degrees and jobs. What a joy to live in this reality. It frees us from squirrelling because we can trust He will provide and frees us up from frantic spending because we have all we need in Him. I enjoyed giving more to church and other charities I resounded with. Hospitality is another great way of serving others with what you have. I also enjoyed the ability to be spontaneously generous. When a need arose, I was often able to give more – what a joy.

“I also enjoyed the ability to be spontaneously generous. When a need arose, I was often able to give more – what a joy.”

Disciple others

This will look different in different ages and life stages outside of medicine. For some, this will mean pouring spare time into discipling and loving their children. For others it may mean discipling medical students, doing youth group or teaching Sunday school. The challenge of shiftwork is new, and you will either love, tolerate or hate it. It is a challenge to be regular at church services and events, but it is possible. Can I encourage you, no matter how tired you are, to push yourself to go to church and a Bible study group? Only if you are safe to get there! But I have seen many junior doctors stop attending church due to shiftwork. Once you miss a couple of services, it is easy to get disconnected and miss more. The slow drift is common and a possibility for any of us! If you cannot make it to your service, try and find a different church with a service time you can make to visit. Meeting with God’s people no matter which church, is a great way of being encouraged and keeping on walking in the faith.

Remember Christ with you

I found intern year a challenge. I enjoyed work only half of the time. In my second year after graduating the enjoyment increased to 70%. I would pray regularly that God would grow me to be a competent, godly doctor, serving my patients as best as I could, bringing honour to Him. Praying is a great way to remember Christ. I had a written prayer in my car and would pray it before I walked into work. A great way to be regular and deliberate, additionally it decreased cognitive load to pray amidst long work hours.

Extra note: In my post-graduate year 3 and 4, I did a ministry apprenticeship with my university Christian group. The time before starting on a training program is a good opportunity to do that pipeline dream you’ve had, like a tandem ride around the world, swim the English Channel, backpack through Europe or do a ministry apprenticeship with your church or a parachurch group. All are great ideas with pros and cons. It’s good to chat about your ideas with older Christians you look up to!

Additional extra note: During these junior doctor years many of my friends married, while I did not. The joys of most of my friends from medical school finding a special person to do the rest of their life with was paired with anxious questioning of whether I would marry or not – a question not answerable for the unmarried until death! This yearning and grief ebbs and flows and has continued well into my single thirties. It is a daily challenge for me to trust God in this area of my life. My current dot points regarding dating that I keep reminding myself include:

1. Be patient.

2. Work on myself – grow in godliness.

3. Put myself out there – risk it for the biscuit!

4. Break-up is not failure.

5. Lean on my friends and family as a sounding board.

6. Only Christ will truly satisfy – seek Him.

A personal note to the reader who shares these struggles: Take heart, aching single one. The Kind One sees you. He will withhold no good thing from you. He is trustworthy.

Registrar Years

Obey Jesus

The same struggles as junior doctor years are repeated but intensified. The pull to study for fellowship exams, the never-ending opportunities for upskilling, research, special skills, presentations, mentoring and rural placements, even though full of excitement, the ‘extras’ can eat into your life more than you would like. Guarding your time and being deliberate about how you spend your energy is so important! Reverend Don West, former principal of Trinity Theological College was remembered saying ‘When you say no, it gives value to your yes.’

“When you say no, it gives value to your yes.”

For me, many of these years were in survival mode. In my 5.5 registrar years, I worked in 8 different jobs and lived in 5 different houses.  I was exhausted and had underestimated the challenging effects of change on me. I am so thankful for all the jobs I had the privilege of working, but it was quite a chaotic time. Nothing was more beneficial to me in these years to keep walking with Jesus than godly Christian friends. Not just being at church together, but swimming, scuba diving, outdoor adventures, 4WDing, running and eating. I am sure God rejoices to see his people enjoying the rest of creation and this sort of physical activity has been essential to my survival.

Disciple others

One of the joys of being a senior registrar in emergency medicine was I had some autonomy over when I worked. The first thing I did was request every Sunday off and every Thursday night (my Bible study night). I was OVERJOYED! After years of being subject to a mostly random roster, I had some choice in when I worked. This meant I could be regularly serving at kids’ church which brought me some of the greatest joys last year, seeing children understand the Bible and love Jesus more while also playing soccer together! I seldomly shared the Gospel explicitly with others at work but was open about being a Christian and how knowing Christ changes my life.

Remember Christ with us

Fellowship study and exams are different for everyone. Some who sit these exams will have to deal with failure for the first time, which can be at best, overwhelming and at worst, crushing. We have been called to be faithful and not successful. May our drive be for faithfulness, which may also lead to success, though not guaranteed. We do have this guarantee though – that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, as a deposit for our inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14). I tried as best as I could to hold loosely to my degree and training. I trusted God would hold on to me and if I had to re-sit an exam, it was another opportunity for me to grow. And less likely but possible, if I could not get through exams, there are numerous other specialities I could try my hand at or be a career medical officer for a time.

Consultant

Obey Jesus

I had a colleague say to me today, ‘Sara, you could be the conscience of our department.’ I was embarrassed but I took it as a compliment. The context is I was staying to the end of non-clinical shift hours, when he was leaving 30 mins early. I had no judgement of my colleagues going home early. We stay late many shifts and going home early some days is totally appropriate! Although I am aware that it is easy to take advantage of non-clinical shifts and use them as days off, I often make an effort to work until the end of my rostered hours. I think being known as a faithful worker is a good thing – an out-working of the good news of Jesus, obeying our earthly ‘masters’ and being faithful servants. I hope and pray that as I grow as a consultant in a position of responsibility in a department, a hospital and an organisation, I can be a shining light for Jesus. I do not want to be known as a ‘goody-two shoes’, but a woman of grace and love. Please pray for this to be so. 

“I do not want to be known as a ‘goody-two shoes’, but a woman of grace and love. Please pray for this to be so.” 

I have so many godly role-models for this. I know a Christian colleague who is widely respected in the medical community as a Christian. I also know many medical Christian head of departments who do not hide their faith but are shrewd and careful how they talk about their beliefs. Only God knows our hearts. We ought to care far less about what others might think of us and far more about what God thinks of us!

The intense study has finished for me, and now I can spend more time thinking and reading. This is one of my greatest delights in life – sitting at home, music playing, candle flickering, and reading. This year our church has a book club, and I am looking forward to reading many C.S. Lewis books!

Disciple others

I have continued to do kids’ church, which is such a joy for me! Another aspect of discipleship is how we disciple each other as friends. My dear friends are those who are not afraid to be honest with me, and also with whom I am honest with. They are friends who pray for me and desire for me to grow. A humorous definition of true friendship I heard recently is a person who stabs you in the front, in contrast to enemies who stab you in the back. Both inflict pain, but a friend confronts you rather than gossips about you. Or as Proverbs 27:6 says, ‘Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.’

I read the Bible with a woman whose children are now adults and a young woman in her early years of university. These relationships bring me such encouragement and opportunity to encourage! I have also been hoping and praying this year I would find a family I could join for dinner every second week as another context of enjoying children and family life. Areas I would love to grow in is being bold and inviting colleagues to church, particularly Easter and Christmas services.

Another prospect I had recently was to volunteer as a ‘first aider’ on a Scripture Union Camp at Exmouth for Grade 12 graduates. It was an extraordinarily stretching time for me. I was humbled at the mammoth undertaking for a very fun, high adrenaline one week camp for 130 campers. I was kept busy and found it challenging being out of my hospital environment. Camps are a great opportunity to volunteer and give of yourself to serve others.

I pray regularly for my colleagues and seniors at work who carry the responsibility of leadership over me. I do not envy their job and appreciate their hard work. I long for them to come to know the joy and love in Jesus and the hope for the future of a life beyond the grave. Often, I feel the Gospel message seems to stand out in stark contrast to the affluent and self-sufficient lifestyles of my colleagues and myself, but I was reminded at church the other week that the Gospel is ‘Jesus is Lord’. It matters not whether my colleagues, or I, appear to ‘need’ God. The truth is ‘Jesus is Lord’ and He beckons us to come to Him, to trust Him, to bow the knee. Our mission is to share this good news with others and to keep reminding ourselves. Again, please pray for me to have courage, wisdom, humility and earnestness while seeking to share this good news.

“Nothing replaces listening to God in His Word and deliberately talking to ourselves to remind us of the truth.”

Remember Christ with us

It is so easy to get stuck in my head, thoughts, feelings and reflections. Recently at church, my minister said, ‘Like the psalmist we need to talk to ourselves rather than listen to ourselves’. All through the Book of Psalms you hear David fret, mourn, struggle and but often towards the end of the Psalm there is a change – ‘But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation (Ps 13:5),’ or ‘Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him (Ps 62:5). Nothing replaces listening to God in His Word and deliberately talking to ourselves to remind us of the truth.

This is where I am at – keeping on remembering Christ and trusting His goodness. Life has not gone exactly how I would have planned it. There have been many deep griefs and pains, some of which continue, but God is steadfast, an immovable Rock, impervious to the crushing waves, enduring to the end. This world is not all there is. I tell myself to lift my eyes and look to Him, from Whom my hope comes.

Conclusion

The road as a Christian has been up and down, smooth and rough, clear and clouded, straight and winding. The goal is to stay on the track and make it to the end! With His help we will endure to the end, but not without hard work and deliberate decisions to say no to sin and yes to righteousness. I hope and pray we will live lives spent for Jesus. The time is short. Maybe some of us will go overseas full-time, some quit medicine and do ministry full-time, others a career change to non-medical work. Some will be full-time stay-at-home mums or dads, or others will plod along working in our medical speciality faithfully to the glory of Jesus. True success is marked not by our worldly achievements or accolades, but rather by faithfulness. Whatever we do, may we work as good and faithful servants, longing for the day when the Father will say, ‘Well done.’

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