The book of Job always comes back to me

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘The book of Job always comes back to me: it’s the immensity of it, the horrors that he suffers and just when it seems there is no hope, there is restoration. I studied medicine. For me, those were the years when I came closest to suffering. That’s why I identify with Job.

My Dad was a doctor and I grew up thinking that I’d do anything but that, but I got into medical college. It was only then that I discovered that I was no good at surgery. I didn’t even like drawing blood. I wasn’t squeamish. I was fine observing. But I couldn’t do it. Soon after that I realised that I was dyspraxic, so nothing in surgery made sense.

I studied medicine for five years, but I really wanted to avoid surgery, which was 50 per cent of the course. I was drawn to things like psychiatry and psychology. I read the book of Job at that time and I could identify with him. I didn’t suffer like he did. But I could learn from his experience and have some faith that, through the struggles, it would be possible to put things back together.

I grew up in apartheid South Africa. Ninety-eight per cent of people in our school wanted to leave the country. I thought that medicine would be my ticket out. But when I was at college, suddenly Nelson Mandela was inaugurated and things were different. That played into the positive side of Job, for me. I work in psychiatry now.’

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