The God of All Comfort and Peace

Peace grabbed my hand as the surgeons started the first abdominal incision. She was reaching out to me for comfort, a new friend from another culture, as the caesarean section began.

Peace is a young woman who suffers from sickle cell disease, a common genetic blood disorder in Nigeria. The disease affects every part of her life, especially her pregnancy. Her unplanned pregnancy quickly became a crisis as her disease threatened the viability of her baby. Further, like so many women in Nigeria, Peace’s future looked bleak with a child on the way and a total lack of financial and spousal support.

It was those factors that led her to Pro-Life Evangel, a center for women and girls in crisis pregnancies. Located on the campus of Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, the center was founded in 2004 as a response to the high rate of abortion and child abandonment observed at the hospital. Pro-Life aims to serve as an advocate for the unborn, counsels those in distress from crisis pregnancy or abortion, and educate clients on options such as foster care and adoption.

I first met Peace when she moved into Pro-Life’s hostel, where women and girls like Peace can live during their pregnancies when their families are unsupportive or even hostile to their situation. Our friendship deepened over the five months she was there. The center was one of several health care ministries that I frequently visited while serving as a short-term missionary with SIM Nigeria during time that I had available before entering medical school.

Although her life had been in turmoil, Peace’s future brightened when she moved into the Pro-Life Evangel hostel. She began actively participating in Bible studies on topics such as forgiveness and how to trust God.

Nonetheless, her pregnancy was extremely challenging. She spent many weeks on admission in the maternity ward. Several times the doctors feared she wouldn’t be able to carry her baby to term. So, when Peace healthily made it to February 2, her scheduled date for a C-section delivery, the Pro-Life staff, physicians, nurses, and I were exceedingly thankful.

Unlike in many Western countries, partners and family members are not allowed to accompany expectant mothers in the operating room in Nigeria. However, since I was classified as a medical student, the doctors and nurses that I worked with at Bingham University Teaching Hospital graciously welcomed me to join them for operation.

Delivery day was long and nerve-racking. The C-section section was scheduled for 7 a.m., yet emergent OB/GYN cases pushed back her operation time. As we waited together, the opportunity for conversation and prayer was an antidote to the anxiety. Finally, her turn arrived.

In the operating room, I stood at the drape partition where I could see Peace’s face and speak with her, while also watching the surgeons work. By this time, I had watched multiple C-sections in Nigeria, yet it was a much more difficult observation when it was someone I knew and had grown to love on the table.

So, I was surprised and filled with joy when Peace grabbed my hand as the surgeons began the first abdominal incision. I held her hand for the entire operation. It was amazing to see how much comfort Peace found through me, someone who had come to know her only during the past few months.

In the days leading up to her scheduled delivery, in every interaction we had, she would confirm, “You’ll be at my operation, right?” It was humbling to feel welcomed at such a special time in her life, but was also overwhelming. I was nervous for her. I felt underqualified to serve as a comfort to her.

Providentially, the Lord reminded me that ultimately I wasn’t the source of any comfort for Peace. Instead, I was a servant that the Prince of Peace and God of All Comfort was using to transmit His comfort, as it says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV):

I don’t know what it is like to be pregnant, to undergo surgery, to be Nigerian, to be a single mother, or to experience the intersection of those things, but God has deemed those understandings unrequired for His work. God blessed me with the opportunity to comfort one of His daughters not because of my ability to relate to her, but rather because of my relationship with Him. He allowed me to stay by Peace’s side during these months and then to be an instrument of comfort through the entire delivery process, which is a reminder that He is faithful.

I can help comfort others because I have been radically comforted by God, especially in Nigeria where my desire for comfort is deeper than before. This has been such a refueling reminder in my life – and a large part of my journey in medicine. Of all the people in the world, patients are one of the groups most in need of comfort. I pray that eventually, through caring for my patients’ health, they would come to know and trust the God of all comfort.

Peace and her beautiful baby girl named Treasure are healthy and well. Her story is representative of so many, and it leaves me in awe of the Author. Men and women in Nigeria – as well as all over the world – find themselves in such peace-less realities where comfort seems impossible. But God, the Father of mercies, uses the unlikely, the humble, and the comforted, to pour out His peace to all.