I was shadowing Dr. Harvey Elder at a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic with the goal of memorizing his sentences so that I could share in the same way he did. I naïvely believed that it was the words and techniques he used that allowed him to serve as God's tool.

The first patient was a young man who suspected that his lifestyle had caught up with him. Dr. Elder questioned him: "What are you going to do to keep from coming back?" Dr. Elder conveyed key ideas about living a life with God. He gave the patient a booklet called "Would You Like to Know God More Personally?" and prayed over him. As we left the exam room, I thought that if I practiced I could actually do what Dr. Elder had done.

My next experience quickly dispelled this notion. As Dr. Elder compassionately probed and asked questions, the young woman did not seem to be listening intently and she answered the questions with minimal words. I assumed she was embarrassed to be in the STD clinic, and I thought I knew what questions Dr. Elder was going to ask next. To my surprise, he stopped pursuing that path and ended the exam.

In my mind, I thought that Dr. Elder had lost patience and given up too early-he didn't even give her a booklet! He explained that as he talked with her, he did not feel the Holy Spirit leading him to push forward. It was so simple, yet so important! Now I realize that I could memorize all the right questions and all the right words, yet still be utterly fruitless as I attempt to share with my patients. It struck me that what I desperately needed was to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, that the key to all of this training is following the Holy Spirit. The questions are important but only as a means of testing the situation to see how the Holy Spirit is guiding me.

I praise God for providing us with mentors and physicians to shadow who model for us how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as they see patients and go through life.