Used By God

"Each one of us is merely a small instrument. When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, often you see small and big wires, new and old, cheap and expensive lined up. Until the current passes through them there will be no light. The wire is you and me. The current is God.
We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the light of the world. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread."
-Mother Theresa

I love this quote because, first and foremost, I am an engineer. I work with wires, transducers, sensors, resistors and capacitors all the time. I create devices that help people. In college, I wrote a computer code and built a device that allows someone with paralysis to move their paralyzed limbs. I also spent two and a half years designing, building, and testing a shoulder simulator that allows people to study the mechanics of the shoulder.

As I move towards graduating with a Masters in Biomedical Engineering, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do after I graduate. I want to be used by God to make a difference in the lives of others, specifically those with special needs.

I owe this all to a girl named Erica, who inspired me to become a biomedical engineer.

I met Erica when I was about 11 or 12 while my mother was working as a teacher's aid in a school for children with special needs. Erica could not speak, walk or eat by herself due to severe cerebral palsy. Yet she made a huge impact in my life. Before she passed away soon after I met her, I told her that she inspired me to help others like her. She was only on this earth for a little while, but the memory of her continues to inspire me to help others. I still can hear her laugh. She was so full of joy despite being so severely disabled. 

I will never forget asking my mom after working with her why she hit me on the back with her arm. My mom told me she was trying to hug me. Before she passed away, I helped her write a card to her mother that said "I love you," which was not an easy feat.

It is in her memory that I move forward and make a difference in the lives of many through biomedical engineering. It is in her memory that I am inspired to be used by God.