Internship Crisis in France

By Andrew McChesney

Elisabeth Birba was dismissed without explanation only a week into an eight-week hospital internship in France. She was devastated. She needed the internship to pass second-year exams. If she failed, she would lose her stipend for food and housing. Her family lived far away in the West Indies.

Image © Pacific Press

Elisabeth fell to the ground and wept. As she cried, she felt impressed to call a friend. Three times she sensed that God was telling her to make the call.

Finally she called. “I lost my internship,” she said.

The friend was surprised. “Do you believe in God?” she asked.

When Elisabeth confirmed that she did, the friend gave her the phone number for another hospital. “Call this number if you believe in God,” she said.

Elisabeth knew it would be difficult to obtain a second internship on such short notice. She wondered what to do. Then she remembered that she had an emergency phone number. Before leaving for France, she had received the number from a Seventh-day Adventist woman in the West Indies. “If you ever have trouble in France, call my sister Vivian,” the woman said.

Elisabeth had accepted the emergency number out of politeness. But now she was so distressed that she called Vivian and told her about the internship.

“Only God can help you,” Vivian said. “The only thing we can do is pray.”

She asked whether Elisabeth had a Bible. It was covered with dust, but Elisabeth had one. “You are going to memorize Psalms 91,” Vivian said. “Make that psalm yours. When you repeat it, remember it is about you.”

Elisabeth wept as she read Psalms 91. Her tears left wrinkles on the page.

Then she called the hospital to inquire about a last-minute internship.

“Call back in three days for our decision,” a woman told her.

She prayed and fasted for three days. She cried. She memorized Psalms 91.

On the third day, the woman called to offer Elisabeth an internship. “You’re lucky,” she said. “The boss didn’t want you but changed his mind at the last minute.”

Emotion overwhelmed Elisabeth. That night she could not sleep. She realized that God had given her the internship. At 4 a.m., she called Vivian.

“Is something wrong?” Vivian asked.

“Don’t worry,” Elisabeth said. “Please take me to the Adventist church.”

Elisabeth went on to be baptized and to receive a master’s degree in France.

“If I had not surrendered to God the day that I called the emergency number, my education would have ended,” said Elisabeth, 27. “God can do anything. With Jesus I have succeeded.”

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help people in France and around the world learn about Jesus.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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