Veterinarian day

I am continually amazed at God’s creativity. Tomorrow is International Veterinarian Day. I look back with great joy at the wonderful vets and vet nurses that God has placed in my life. He had a wonderful plan to use them to help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in Central Asia, even though it was doubtful they would ever go themselves.

There are so many people to mention: Mary in West Virginia – a horse therapy expert, Mary, Ann Allen, and a host of other vets and nurses in central Alabama – teaching me skills in an animal hospital; but today, it’s Jack, Brenda, Wendy, and Michelle, from a small town in southeast Alabama, that especially fills me with great warmth. They were the first to willingly open their hearts, giving time to put me on a path to study and practice veterinary medicine. I could have never dreamed of calling myself a vet nurse without their encouragement.

Dr. Jack Jones and his wife Brenda took the challenge with a huge heart of love to assist in sharing the Good News in a land stretching across the Tien Shen Mountains. They gave the first surgical pack that I excitedly put in my suitcase. I remember the first time I used a pair of hemostats in a nomad’s camp, my thoughts were of them. The first time I drew blood from a horse, my thoughts were of them. The first time I wandered among a herd of goats to administer worming treatment, my thoughts were of them. Even the first time I inserted my arm in the backside of a cow to check for pregnancy, my thoughts were of them.

Dr. Jack and Brenda, with their nurses, Wendy and Michelle, opened a great door. I could not have gone through it without them. Therefore, on Veterinarian Day — I give a special recognition, thanking them, and thanking God for His creativity. Only God could design a plan to share His love through a scalpel and a stethoscope, wandering after goats and horses in a faraway land.

God makes His children a team to spread His love and the truth of His saving grace. He uses any of His children who are willing, taking them to places of His design; sometimes across the road and sometimes across the ocean. Wherever He takes us, His plans are without mistake.

The most joyful thing any of God’s children can say to Him is: Here I am, send me; Here I am, use me. It may be far away or nearer to home, but it will always be an adventure of joy and blessing. He uses each of His children to bless another.

Thank you to every veterinary person who has touched my life, who has joined in sharing the Good News. If you are right now a child of God, may the following words of Jesus captivate you:

“Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20