My Mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2014.  Thanks to a wonderful family friend and Radiation Oncologist’s willingness to see her, I moved her from Georgia to Indiana to be under his care.   We also noted cognitive decline due to an undiscovered metabolic disease.  I soon felt woefully unprepared to help my Mom.  I was willing, but absolutely overwhelmed. 

Thankfully, God allowed us to meet wonderful specialists.  These doctors are all experts in their respective fields: Radiation Oncology, Internal Medicine, Genetics and Metabolism, and Hepatology.  Because of their dedication, extensive education, and unique specialties: we saw improvement in her overall health.  They also equipped me to be the best possible caregiver and advocate for my Mom.  They saw an overwhelmed young daughter (with young daughters), had compassion, and taught me.

I thank God for these medical specialists!  Consider though: what if they decided not to help? What if they had the knowledge, the opportunity, and then simply decided not to help her? To walk on by?

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Jesus spent His precious time helping the most burdened, the most shunned, the most troubled. In fact, He was often criticized for it.  In Mark 2:15-17, Jesus was eating at Matthew’s house.  When Pharisees recognized the others sitting with Jesus, they asked His disciples (not Jesus directly), ““Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  Verse 17 says, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  He was constantly seeking out those in need.

Jesus is the ultimate “Specialist.” He knew exactly what each soul needed.  He healed the soul, and He healed the body.

Have you ever considered yourself to have a “specialty”? 

The definition of a specialist is, “a person who concentrates primarily on a particular subject or activity; a person highly skilled in a specific and restricted field.”  We may not have titles like M.D. after our names, but we have each been given experiences that make us uniquely qualified to help people who are suffering.  How many of us have had heartache so deep that it feels like internal bleeding?  How many have had loved ones pass away?  Pain of illness?  Family strife?  Church squabbling?  Temptations? Anxiety?  The list is endless.  Yet we have (with God’s help) endured many trials.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

James 1:2-4

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On a sunrise beach walk this past week, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of God’s creation.  The clouds, the calm of early morning, the waves… and then I stopped abruptly at the sight of a shell that appeared to be glowing.  Completely missing the top of its structure, this shell may not have passed the collector’s test.  But if it had been fully whole, I wouldn’t have seen the rising sun fill the shell completely with radiant light.

The shell, pictured above, illustrates the beauty of a Specialist.  Like the shell, we too have been battered by the waves of life.  We have scars from physical and emotional battles.  But friends, there is beauty in our brokenness!   How amazing that through God, we are able to help the hurting ~ with our own survival experiences.  Our unique “specialties.”  

Credentials of a Specialist:

• Experience trials, sorrows, pain.
• Seek out those in need.
• Love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
• Hold on during adversity… allowing God to be your refuge.
• Seek out those in need.
• Pray constantly.
• Let perseverance finish its work ~ resulting in maturity.
• Seek out those in need.
• With humility, share your trials.  
• Fortify the suffering soul with God’s promises.
• Lend them your strength, comfort, and love.
• Seek out those in need.

What is your specialty?  May we all bring healing and light to those around us.  As in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus illustrates true love for one another.  Not ignoring the person in pain and walking by… but stopping.  Helping.  Caring. 

May we recognize that we are Specialists who are filled with His light… just like the illuminated, yet beautifully broken shell… and seek out those in need.