For doctors in training, relocating is common and brings many challenges but also blessings. during medical school, and since qualifying three years ago, I have moved house, church and job multiple times including a complete fresh start when I relocated to Australia for a year after FY2.
Everyone's experiences will differ, but here are some things I found helpful along the way. We can hold on to the knowledge that God is consistently present and never changes. When moving it can be hard to leave behind friends,familiar places and things you enjoy to head into something unknown. However, we cannot go anywhere without God and so wherever we are we can turn to him and know that he is right there!
Psalm 139:8—10 says about the Lord: 'If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast'.
When faced with uncertainty in a new place, we can be sure that God will be with us the whole way. practically, I have found getting involved in a local church as quickly as you can when moving to an area is an important way to make a new place feel like home. I have been lucky that whenever I have moved I have felt warmly welcomed into the Christian community, which has both helped me to feel more involved in the local area and not to miss the friends I left behind so much. It takes time and effort to get to know new people but it is so worth it.
When moving to a new place, I have had more time to get to know work colleagues and do hobbies, which also can make relocating easier.
My final piece of advice is to be prepared to be pleasantly surprised about the adventure God has in store for you. After finishing FY2 I moved to Canberra, Australia, to work in Emergency Medicine. Lots of people were negative about Canberra as a place to live and I was nervous about spending a whole year doing shift work. However, one year on I have had a great time and now it is nearly time to leave I am finding it much harder than I could have expected. It has become clear that God knew what he was doing when he sent me here. God has made plans for each one of us and knows what we need more than we do.
Like many doctors in training, I will be moving again this August. I am so grateful for what God has given me in the past, which makes me sad to move on. However, I am excited about his ans for me in the new place I will call 'home'.
Natasha Ramsden is an 'FY3' doctor in Emergency Medicine in Canberra, Australia
Everyone's experiences will differ, but here are some things I found helpful along the way. We can hold on to the knowledge that God is consistently present and never changes. When moving it can be hard to leave behind friends,familiar places and things you enjoy to head into something unknown. However, we cannot go anywhere without God and so wherever we are we can turn to him and know that he is right there!
Psalm 139:8—10 says about the Lord: 'If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast'.
When faced with uncertainty in a new place, we can be sure that God will be with us the whole way. practically, I have found getting involved in a local church as quickly as you can when moving to an area is an important way to make a new place feel like home. I have been lucky that whenever I have moved I have felt warmly welcomed into the Christian community, which has both helped me to feel more involved in the local area and not to miss the friends I left behind so much. It takes time and effort to get to know new people but it is so worth it.
When moving to a new place, I have had more time to get to know work colleagues and do hobbies, which also can make relocating easier.
My final piece of advice is to be prepared to be pleasantly surprised about the adventure God has in store for you. After finishing FY2 I moved to Canberra, Australia, to work in Emergency Medicine. Lots of people were negative about Canberra as a place to live and I was nervous about spending a whole year doing shift work. However, one year on I have had a great time and now it is nearly time to leave I am finding it much harder than I could have expected. It has become clear that God knew what he was doing when he sent me here. God has made plans for each one of us and knows what we need more than we do.
Like many doctors in training, I will be moving again this August. I am so grateful for what God has given me in the past, which makes me sad to move on. However, I am excited about his ans for me in the new place I will call 'home'.
Natasha Ramsden is an 'FY3' doctor in Emergency Medicine in Canberra, Australia
