President Obama chose Regina Benjamin as surgeon general earlier this week, earninginitial praise for rebuilding her clinic after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and than destroyed by a fire a year later. She has also done missionary work in Honduras was awarded a medal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.
Today Heather shares a devotional message that reminds each of us that our circumstances do not correlate to God’s presence in our lives. Your circumstances are seasonal, situational, and circumstantial. They are not forever. They are not always. And they are not permanent.
We must keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who is forever. God is with us, even when it feels like our prayer life is blocked.
Today’s Scripture can be found in Isaiah 20:2-4 in the Christian Standard Bible:
During that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, take off your sackcloth from your waist and remove the sandals from your feet,” and he did that, going stripped and barefoot—the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame….”
Host Bio
Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including I’ll See You Tomorrow and It’s Not Your Turn. Reach out to Heather on Twitter @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Sign up for Heather’s encouraging devotional email, which goes out every Friday night at 7 p.m. EST, at www.heatherthompsonday.com/links.
But McClatchy reports that Benjamin “supports the president’s position on reproductive health issues.” White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said, “Like him she believes that this is an issue where it is important to try and seek common ground and come together to try and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. As a physician, she is deeply committed to the philosophy of putting her patients’ needs first when it comes to providing care.”
Life News reports that in 1996, she spoke in favor of the American Medical Association’s governing body vote to “urge medical schools to expand their curriculum” to teach “more about abortion.”
A 2007 interview with the Catholic Digest suggests that her Catholic faith influences her medical practice.
“Church was always a very important part of my life,†Benjamin said. “I believe I am carrying on the healing ministry of Christ. I feel obligated to help continue his works. I think it’s important to make a difference in everything you do, even if it’s small.â€
Benjamin joins Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius as pro-choice, Catholic officials who will handle health-related issues.
Meanwhile, confirmation hearings continue for Sonia Sotomayor, and Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn wonders why her Catholic faith is not discussed more.
If the indifference to Ms. Sotomayor’s Catholicism were truly a sign of a new respect for the “no religious test” provisions of the Constitution, that would be something to celebrate. But in the unlikely case that this “wise Latina” ever comes to see the legal wisdom of overturning Roe and returning abortion to the democratic process, we’ll be reading a very different story.
Sotomayor has sidestepped questions that asked about her personal views on abortion, saying that Roe V. Wade is settled and “I will follow the law.” She also said that Obama did not ask her opinion on abortion before he nominated her.
