Love never fails

I recently read the book Grasping Heaven, about the life of Dr. Tami Fisk, a missionary doctor.

She was one of the pioneering health professionals sent by MSI, Medical Services International, to China when the country reopened its door to foreign doctors in the 90s, to live and care for the Yi in the villages surrounding Zhaojue.

It is incredible how one individual can make a difference in the lives of so many, changing even the views of Chinese officials, thereby opening more doors for MSI, with her unfailing commitment to love, in just three short years.

Despite the difficulties and initial barriers (language notwithstanding) she faced, Tami's strong faith and conviction in God's will carried her through her stint in China as well as her subsequent battle with melanoma.

Tami was guided by the principle of love as laid down in 1 Corinthians 13 by Paul. This was important for her ministry, for in China, Tami's life was "cemented in flexibility".

Despite the frustrations of dealing with the ever-changing flow of events, she was able to retain her sense of humour and respond faithfully in love to whatever situation was presented to her on a daily basis.

Even when her world came crashing down around her with the advent of cancer, she remembered the example of another missionary doctor, who, when faced with a life-threatening situation, said yes to this question posed to her by Jesus:

"Can you trust me in this difficult situation, even if I never tell you why?"

Likewise, Tami said yes with courage. Before she died at age 39, she continued to trust implicitly in the words proclaimed in Jeremiah 29:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

The legacy left behind by Dr. Tami Fisk is profound and far-reaching. I am inspired and strengthened by her story.

While she was a woman who had the benefit of loving, godly parents and the ability to recognize her calling early on in life, and thereby spend most of her life preparing for it (just like Jesus) and living it in ministry briefly (again like Jesus), what about the rest of us who remain lost and clueless?

I think of A. whom I think rejected death to the end for she felt she still had things to accomplish. Unfinished business.

I think of my conversation with E. about how many of us know what is our true vocation in life? And how many of us waste many years before we get an inkling.

I think of brokenness in our lives that prevents many of us from realizing our true potential and being "fully alive".

I think of men and women hamstrung by their low self-worth and the lies that they have bought into, who go on to live lives "of quiet desperation".

Will such lives, ended, be in vain?

I'd like to think that no life is in vain. Every life has a purpose.

Even if the person chose to deny or was unable to find his/her purpose in life, grace can enter and make a life seemingly without value into one which is rich beyond human measure.

In sharing our thoughts about A.'s demise last night, we found that we were each given many gifts of insight and that A. enabled love to flow into our lives and work within the group to change each of us indelibly.

That is the nature of love. It works its magic, gently and patiently. Faithful. Never giving up. Always hoping. Enduring.

Whatever A. thought was unfinished business will, even in her death, progress to fruition, I have no doubt.

For love never fails.