I've just started elective with Dr. R on monday, and wow! that's really all i can say right now. so much has happened, and my thinking & beliefs are being challenged each and every way (for the better!) Its only been 3 days, but as each hour passes by my heart grows more and more in love for his patients. its the opposite from what i expected.
addiction. its horrible stuff. one wrong decision, one wrong choice, and suddenly you find yourself in a downward spiral of wrong choices and a life far from what you could ever imagine, hopeless. i've learned heroin is really expensive stuff..half a gram is around $250! i've also learned people will do absolutely anything to get it. and eventually it all leads to poverty, homelessness, crime, even prostitution...ultimately pain & suffering, all because of the driving desire to get that next hit. gosh the crime lords & gangs have prolly got the most successful business out there. its disgusting.. its just not right, its like selling nooses..
one of the patients told me her addiction or rather her 'love affair' with heroin was like someone stranded in the desert for a week without a drop of water with the midday scorching sun beating down hard on her. Her mouth is so dry, her tongue feels like a cactus stuck to the roof of her mouth. But suddenly she sees an oasis! She does everything she can to get to the water. Once she arrives she drinks furiously only to find out the water is toxic. but she's too thirsty to even care..
what an image.
there's a happy ending for this lady though. she did find the truest purest source of water (as in the big G) and Dr. R probably had some say in showing her the way :) i think its easy & 'comfortable' to become stingy with the Truth. the thing is, there are so many people around us drowning - for the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. we read this, we hear this, and perhaps if we allow ourselves to open our eyes, we see this, but what comes next? we throw lifesavers out :) but i think at least for myself, even though i have a limitless supply of lifesavers i've been stingy in throwing them out. i only give them away if someone swims up to me and asks. Dr. R is the opposite. he throws as many lifesavers out as he possibly can. he doesn't even care if you're looking away or if you don't even want it, cuz sometimes even if you don't want it or need it, a few minutes later you'll start realizing you're drowning and then you'll start looking around and grab hold of that lifesaver.
on another note. one thing i've learned is its hard to ask for prayer, its so much easier to offer. therefore i oughtta be BOLD and offer! i think spiritually i've always been kinda timid. sometimes there'd be that tug to pray or to talk about Truth (with a capital T), but never had the guts to follow through. how sad. i'm learning though, not to be so shy anymore. or rather, i'm being forced not to be so shy & encouraged by what not-being-shy even looks like! i'm still kinda in a state of shock! i get to pray with patients!! how crazy awesome is that? :) iunno if i can go back to the monotony of school now that i've seen this. how i wish i could start practicing right now.
Tomorrow, Dr. R has sent me off on a 'field-trip' to a church! :) the whole organization is called Hope Foundation. it was started by one of Dr. R's patients who struggled with heroin to the point where she sold her body to get enough cash to pay for the drug. Being on a treatment program with Dr. R was only a temporary fixer-upper. It wasn't until she found God when she gave up heroin permanently, not just in her head, but in her heart. on thursdays they have a group of women who meet up, mainly women who were or are involved with addiction and the sex trade. Women broken and hurting, but healing through God's grace :) I'm excited to meet these women tmr, to hear their stories, & how God's been working in & through them! here's a video from their website:
On a spontaneous note, this monday I'm going to Perth to meet a man named Dr. George O'Neil! (it still seems so surreal. Dr. R was really keen for me to go & suggested the idea yesterday.. and here i am 1 day later with a ticket in hand for the coming monday!) This doctor is the guy who invented the Naltrexone implant - the thing thats truly keeping ppl off the drugs. More than that, he's a Kingdom-minded Christian who's going strong for the Lord :) He also works a lot with the homeless, even opening around 40 homes to get ppl off the streets! I'm really excited to see who he is, what he's doing, & what God's been doing there in Perth!
