A Doctor’s Testimony
by Dr. Joyce Oh
For whatever reason, when Billy asked me to write about myself for this newsletter, I thought, “That’s easy! Who doesn’t like to talk about themselves?” But I fumbled for content, and while I know everyone has an origin story, it was hard to get the right perspective on mine. Today, the Lord reminded me that I can speak of Him, because He is the author of this life, His are the blessings I’ve received, His is the Spirit that lives in me, and His are the plans that my life follows.
The God of this universe, He decided that I be born into a Korean immigrant family. Sometimes I think of the questions I’ll have for God when we meet face to face.“Why, God, do you make women [or maybe just this woman] subject to our own emotions?”Another more relevant question I’ll have is “Why, God, was I born into a Korean family?”I cannot wait to know the answers. Like so many other immigrant families, it meant that there was a culture of hard work and high expectations. Though the essence of hard work is certainly a Godly principle, it is the enemy’s job to twist all things good into bad. From all that hard work, I’d come to believe this lie: “to be loved, be perfect.” The Lord offered me the first and most potent bout of freedom from this lie**
Through the rigors of residency and life outside of it, God continued to reveal the power of lies just like this that take rampant charge over my mind when it is not set on Christ: be smart, be right, be wealthy, be quick-witted, be wise, be beautiful, be perfect, and you will be loved. Isn’t the enemy so good at his job? Are these not great Godly gifts if used for His glory? But how quickly we make them servant to our own ends!
I learned a truth at Mercy Med through Jeanne, one of our amazingly God-centered counselors, that banishes these lies: you are known, and therefore loved.
Our God is so gracious, so beautifully merciful, so heartbreakingly tender, so endlessly wise, so INFINITE in His goodness that in knowing us, he loved us first while we were yet sinners. His is the love that first reached me, and I am changed because of it.
This revelatory and transformative truth the Lord has entrusted to us to make known to all peoples. He’s placed in me a desire to share and plant this truth in all peoples. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to have a conversation with a future brother or sister overseas about the Good News they’ve not yet heard!
Psalm 116: I Love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!” How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me.Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.”
