I was surprised to hear my name called from across the parking lot of the grocery store. “Hey, Dr. Sampson!” I recognized him right away as one of the troubled teens that we had worked with for years at the Samaritan Health Center. Our nurse team had met with Eric frequently for months, to talk about his weight issues as well as his mood and outlook on life. He would talk about the “dark thoughts” he would often have, and he would listen to music and draw pictures with dark themes.

Over time, the nurses talked to him about the Lord, telling him that life does not have to be full of darkness. At first, he was resistant to the counsel that there is light in this world, and that God loves us. It took months and months of meetings with him and talks with our nurses, but you could see that he was starting to change. Eventually, at one of the sessions, Eric allowed our staff to pray for him. It seemed like a burden had been lifted from him, and he had grown a big smile. He wasn’t focused on darkness anymore. That’s the power of the gospel at work.

Since his graduation from high school a few years ago, I had not seen Eric. Then, all of a sudden, he was standing there in front of me in the parking lot, asking about Samaritan and telling me that he was doing well and was excited to have a job at the grocery store. He wanted me to greet all of the nurses who had befriended him and took the time to care for him. And even though he is still working on his weight issues, he seemed so content and happy.

That short encounter was priceless; it was great to see the ongoing impact of our clinic on the youth of our community.

– Dr. Don Sampson, Clinical Director, Samaritan Health Center