Facing The Future With Confidence

As you are all keenly aware, life around us is changing rapidly.  No doubt each of us has already been impacted by the SARS-CoV-2 Novel Coronavirus. From not being able to meet friends at church, to the death of a friend or colleague, the impact is huge. We have not seen such an impact on a global scale since the mislabeled “Spanish Flu” of 1918. We are watching places like Italy and bracing ourselves for the impending tidal wave of cases in our own communities. Many in our society are in full panic mode.

While this crisis is most certainly devastating to our economy and the well-being of many, I pray that for our AMEN members, and Seventh-day Adventists as a whole, it will also be an opportunity for us to minister to those around us who feel anxiety as their lives are turned upside down.

I truly believe we are living in the last days and this inspires me to want to do even more to share Christ ­and His saving power with my patients.  Many are asking deep questions but even if they feel a spiritual draw, the churches are closed. They feel lost with nowhere to turn.  We may be the only ‘pastor’ they will meet. For many of us, our schedules have lightened a bit due to cancellations so this is the perfect time to be open to deeper discussions with our patients and their families.  If you haven’t yet begun offering to pray with your patients, I encourage you to start now. Here is a video that will give you pointers and inspire you to “Transform Your Practice Through Prayer”.

In addition to encouraging you to pray for & with your patients, AMEN wants to provide you with additional resources to share hope with your patients despite the raging world around us. We have worked with Pastor Mark Finley and Pacific Press to produce a special issue of Signs of the Times entitled, “Facing the Crisis with Confidence” and encourage you to share it with your patients.   If you would like to have some mailed to you, please email Rebecca Barnhurst (barnhurst@amensda.org).

AMEN has also developed a short handout on Immune Building that you can use to share with your patients, neighbors, colleagues, etc.  I encourage you to read the testimony of how Drs. Andi & Bob Hunsaker have already used this in their own neighborhood.

Let’s band together and use this crisis as an opportunity to offer hope to a broken world.  Hope in the Living Christ.  Hope in His saving grace.  Hope that He will come again to rescue us and take us to a land where there will be no more suffering, no more coronavirus, no more stock market crashes, no need for hoarding supplies.  A world where death and sadness are no more.   Let’s show the world we care by being willing to meet their basic needs and pray that God will open their hearts to spiritual revival as well.

God bless you as you minister for Him!

In His Service,

Brian Schwartz, MD

AMEN President