As is often the case here in Africa, a strike of workers at one hospital causes an upturn in business at another. During one such busy week at the Christian hospital in Kenya where I was working, I met Rachel, a pediatric medical resident who came to help out with the extra busy schedule.

After Rachel finished helping a patient with some paperwork at the reception desk, she and I began to talk. I was immediately sure that we had met for a reason.

Some difficult medical cases had recently left Rachel feeling emotionally discouraged. She talked to a close friend about it, but she didn’t have anyone in the medical field with whom she felt comfortable sharing her struggles.

I’m so glad God orchestrated our paths crossing! After 30 years of working in Africa as a female pediatrician, I was able to share how the Lord helps me to not just survive the stress of this job, but has given me wonderful opportunities to change lives around me.

Rachel and I talked about the best ways to disciple others, ways to seek advice from mentors, how reading Scripture encourages me on difficult days, and how to maintain a healthy compassion for patients while seeking to redeem difficult situations, because we have a redeeming God. I confessed to Rachel that I, too, struggle with relying on God’s promises.

Right there at the hospital reception desk, we opened up a Bible and read 2 Peter 1:2-4:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature…

I explained that as we learn more about God’s promises, we become more like Christ and then are able to learn even more about God! It’s a wonderful circle that allows us to become more like Christ by applying what we know of Him.

It was amazing how deeply we connected in only a 15 minutes — but that is the beauty of the Body of Christ. As sisters in Christ, we shared our hearts freely and openly. I confessed to Rachel that this year, I hope to focus more God’s promises as a way to stay strong, despite difficult medical situations each week. As Rachel finished paperwork, we headed off in different directions. I was reminded that making disciple-makers from all professions only happens when we allow God to speak to us during the rush and distractions of the work day.

Dr. Dana Witmer, M.D., works and makes disciples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The people in this story are real, but their names have been changed to protect their privacy.