Nothing Is Wasted

By Becky Davey

"We're sorry, but you are not physically fit for the mission field." This is the second time I've heard that, Lord. I thought you wanted me on the mission field. I've worked hard to get there: a BS degree, experience in nursing, Bible school, helping start a church. What do I do now?

Rejections are hard to accept, but having nothing else to do, I went to graduate school to get a masters degree in nursing education, minoring in administration. After a year teaching nursing, God reconfirmed my call, and I was appointed in 1961 as an ABWE missionary.

Looking back, I understand what God was doing; I needed the education and experience to prepare me for the different hats I would wear when opening a hospital in a developing country. How big should the air vents be in a private patient room? What happens to the septic tank when phenol is poured down it? What impact does chlorine have on the environment? God gave me opportunities to learn these things as well as giving anesthesia and taking x-rays.

I worked in every area of the medical missions hospital from business office to housekeeping, nurse practitioner and developer of educational programs to counselor and Bible teacher.

I've seen how showing Christ's compassion opens doors. On a survey trip to war-torn Cambodia, I realized that medical clinics could help bring Cambodians to Christ.

Years of developing curricula for different levels of medical education gave insight in helping missionaries in Togo develop their nurses' training program. During my six-week stay, I only needed to give principles, help set goals, and work through a general outline. The on-site missionary nursing staff did all the rest, and God supplied those needed to develop the program.

Working through the problems in a developing country helped me evaluate Liberia's needs. Liberian believers want teaching and help in replacing destroyed equipment and facilities. I looked at the equipment in what had been a clinic: a tiny trunk of medicine, two stethoscopes, one blood pressure cuff, and scars on the walls where electric wires once were. I thought, We have so much. Lord, what can we do? As I looked around, my guide said, "Our clinic and church workers will be here tomorrow for the class you will teach." Class? What in the world would I teach?" I gulped. Lord, thank you I brought my computer with the course I wrote, and praise God for years of teaching experience!

Changes in missionary staffing, an enlarged and improved facility, and new government regulations prompted re-evaluation at Amazonas Baptist Hospital. We discussed staffing, how to develop manuals, the place of the missionary nurse, how to maintain standards of excellence, continuing education for missionary medical staff, and many other issues.

On all of these trips, learning goes both ways. Amazonas Hospital staff taught me how a hospital can be involved in a discipleship program, a model that can be replicated elsewhere. Liberian Christians taught me that Third-World Christians can-and do-use whatever is at hand. In Togo I learned that experiences from one country can be adapted for other countries of the world.

God works in our lives according to His timetable. He knows what we need and when. We can trust God. He not only never wastes anything, He always uses it to the best advantage.

Becky Davey served at the Memorial Christian Hospital in Bangladesh from its inception in 1965 until 2000. She is now a consultant for ABWE's worldwide medical work.