Grace Bongabong M.D.  is currently a post graduate intern at Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City

I remember sixteen years ago, when I was 17. I was full of fears and unsure of what tomorrow holds for me. I reluctantly prepared myself for college in Cebu City as I always wanted to study in Manila. I enrolled myself in UP as a BS Biology student with the aim of becoming a doctor someday. Since I was a freshman who didn’t have many friends then, I would easily give in to my brother’s invitation to attend services in Evangel. After three months of attending church, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching of Pas Chuck. Love, joy, peace and purpose in life which were once abstract to me became an exciting reality. The church especially Pas Jocelyn, helped me to grow through personal discipleship.

Four years later, I wore the graduation cap. More than half of my classmates were all set for medical school. BUT, I was not. By then, I was actively involved in ministry helping young people to grow in the Lord, I was involved in few other ministries, however the church went through a major crisis. I felt for the church at that time, which was instrumental for me to know the Lord Jesus. How could I happily pursue my dream of becoming a doctor when my dear church was in such a state.

One day when I was fasting, I was praying with the church staff weeping and desperate for God to help me make the right decision. It was hard to let go of my dream, and with it I had a glimpse how hard it was for father Abraham to sacrifice his only son. However, God’s Spirit spoke to my heart, “Be with your church when you are needed most, not when all is fine and well.” There, I surrendered my dream to Him. I didn’t waste a minute, after we said ‘amen’ I followed Pas Chuck in his office and boldly made a decision that I would stay as a church staff. Weeks later, my father and brother from US went to see Pas Chuck in his office to make me revoke my decision.

But the following six years as a church staff was the most fruitful times in ministry, reaching out and  touching lives for the Lord when there was no school work to think about but just ministries! I had a better view of the happiness, hardship and the hurdles that a pastor went through each day in nurturing a church even as someone who was just assisting from behind. I was mostly involved in influencing the young people and in some creative aspect of church ministries. I kept myself busy, really busy even to the point of neglecting my walk with the Lord.  Sadly, I failed God terribly. I was desperate for God’s mercies as the wrong I have done broke my dear pastors’ hearts. The cross of Christ during those times of my great spiritual need became even more real in my life.

A year after, while studying World Missions in Davao City and at the same time working in a nursing review center God reminded me that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Then I felt a strong calling from heaven. It was like the calling of God to Abraham when he was about to slay his son.  7 years had passed, when my dream of becoming a doctor was all surrendered, but God restored the dream back in my heart but this time with His plans in mind. But God’s timing didn’t seem to synchronize with the vision, for during that time quite a number of doctors migrated abroad to earn dollars abroad working as ‘nurses’. As I stayed in Davao waiting for the Lord to direct my life, my sister who was working as a nurse in Iceland kept convincing me to work there. Pas Peter and Christine Wee influenced me to seek God in those trying moments of my life. I listened to their advice and I declined my sister’s invitation.

The following year I returned in Cebu City. God made everything beautiful and possible in His time, His supernatural provision made a way for me to enroll in Cebu Institute of Medicine and also to walk down the aisle as a bride! I was married to my long time friend in church, Lloyd. It was a honeymoon stage for my marriage, but it was no honeymoon academically as I had to admit, it was quite tough to study hundred of pages a day (or more) after being out of school for 7 years. A few of my classmates quit and I was tempted to do likewise. Yet during that year, one of the kids in Evangel Futurekids died due to complications of Dengue infection. I was reminded WHY I was in med school thus I pushed myself harder. In partnership with the church that year we conducted an anti-dengue clean up drive, and with a former classmate’s help who was then already a doctor, we did a dengue symposium for the parents.

My next year in med school was filled with joy as not only God enabled me to overcome the hardship in first year but also to conquer the labor pains in delivering my first baby! Sleepless nights this time were for the books and the baby. But God’s church was my faithful support system. I am truly thankful for their prayers every Tuesday night. This was also the year when the first medical mission of the Robert and Marion Lim PEACE Foundation started in which the recipients were the people in Brgy. R. Palma, a community we discovered to be the ‘neediest of the neediest’.

I stepped into 3^rd year med with much apprehension as this was the toughest level. My little baby was growing up fine but as a first time mom, I couldn’t help but felt helpless sometimes in taking care of his not- so- tiny needs. An added reason for my sleepless nights was our 24-hour duty in the hospital. It was my first exposure of the suffering of the sick as a med student. I saw how a man with about 40cm hacking wound on his back had to wait 9 hours to be attended at the ER in a public hospital because there were other patients in a more critical situation. My eyes were opened how much we lack. We continued with our medical mission effort because that was what we could best offer to our people. God’s faithfulness saw me through all the pressures of 3^rd year med, and it was now then time to enter into internship.

Fourth year med was a real test. I almost couldn’t believe that there was no day off the entire year and duty was 36 hours every other day! That meant more than half of the year (plus 2 months stay in a community) I couldn’t go home and attending Sunday services was a remote possibility. It was very, very tough. How I missed fellowship and worship services and not to mention seeing my baby grow. I honestly doubted if I was doing the right thing. But saving lives was a privilege God has given me. I thank God for the opportunity to inspire a cancer patient, to feed a severely malnourished baby, to whisper to the dying to call on the Name of the Lord, to assist the poor and sometimes ‘fighting’ for them, and to have a better understanding why Jesus spent so much time healing the sick when He was on earth.

I learned valuable lessons in my internship. Humility, submission, excellence, hardwork, honesty, teamwork and faith in God were precious things I learned in church I found out to be necessary to make it for this medical journey. Wearing the graduation cap this time meant more than just acquiring another education, it was a symbol of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His calling for my life in a uniquely beautiful way. I started out dreaming to be a doctor to achieve something in life, but when Christ found me, that dream became His tool to extend His caring and compassionate hands for the sick. ‘Expecting great things for God and attempting great things for Him’ has always been Pas Jocelyn’s challenge to me which she learned from her own pastors, Rev Robert and Marion Lim. I am so glad to be part of the Robert and Marion Lim PEACE Foundation medical team to fulfill God’s plans for the sick and needy.

This journey is still long, but everyday is an evidence of God’s goodness. As a post graduate intern who is at the same time preparing for the physicians licensure exam next year I can only but marvel at the good things that God has in store for the medical mission for MJ Cuenco Community and beyond, truly to God alone be the glory!