Small Blessings: Med Students

I spent the weekend with med students. They are a crazy bunch. I had planned on working at home all weekend on MPD, but that fell through and I decided to join my soon-to-be-doctor friends at a cabin in a nearby state park. I knew it would be enjoyable, because they are a fun group, and I always learn a lot about the medical profession and terminology when I'm around them. Plus, we played games. I learned how to play airplane solitaire, and I beat it after maybe 20 tries. I also was excited to get out of town and get my fill of nature for the week (sitting around in a house in the woods totally counts).

Anyway, the reason for the retreat was the fast-approaching Match Day. If you're unfamiliar with this, I will explain; medical students in their 4th year of school apply at residencies. If they are well received, they get an interview. After this process is complete, they rank the residencies where they interviewed.

The tricky part is, the residencies rank all of the med students they interview, and both rankings have to match, hence the name Match Day. They find out today if they match; if they do, they find out Thursday where they go for the next 3+ years of their lives. Yikes. If they don't match, they must scramble (try to find a residency with spots left) and only have a few days to do so. Double Yikes.

I knew we'd talk about this process and the upcoming week a lot while we were hanging out, which was fine by me. But I didn't realize that I would find myself identifying so much with them and the stage of life they are at. They are all about to make big, big changes in their lives that will set the course for the rest of their careers. They will move to a new place, find new friends, and a new church (and have to work 80 hours a week, which is untrue of me (I hope)).

These students are hard-core trusting God with their futures. They don't know where they will match, or, truthfully, if they will match at all. They are pursuing their interests and what they think God wants them to do, but they don't know if those are the same thing. They have made some huge, tough decisions in their school and personal lives, and have worked hard to get to where they are. I was totally encouraged by their attitudes, thoughts and hearts in the midst of the waiting.

If you're reading this during the week of March 15-18, say a prayer for these med students- that they would know peace that passes understanding, and God's sovereignty in all things.