Here is what I’m going to touch on:
- Love and Truth
- Prayer
- Listening to God’s Guidance
Before I cover the key items above, I think it important to define what I mean by stating that I am a Christian.
It does not mean that I’m perfect — far from it!
What it does mean is that I have put my trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, as the one who created me and loves me so much that He sacrificed His life on the cross, and rose again 3 days later, to cover my sin, past-present-and future, and anyone else in this world who believes in Him, acting as a bridge so that I may be connected with God the Father for eternity. This is a free gift to anyone, no matter what your past looks like. It requires nothing for you to do except for putting your trust (belief) in Him (meaning, you can’t earn your way to Heaven).
For those who are interested, I’ll share my journey to knowing Christ at the end of this blog.
Now, to the topics I will discuss…
1. Love and Truth
As a Christian, I strive to serve as Christ served.
No prejudice. No self-serving reasons behind my actions.
I strive to care for my patients just as I would my very own family.
Here’s an example of how I have failed to do this in my early years as a Chiropractor:
I had a patient who I knew from our initial conversation was financially strapped. I knew that their physical condition required lots of Chiropractic care to help restore health — but when it came time for me to provide them with my recommendation of how often to see them for Chiropractic care and for how long — I fell very short of sharing the Truth. Why!? Because I assumed they couldn’t afford the required care — and I didn’t want them to feel bad about it.
This was a huge disservice to them. Their condition will take longer to heal than ideal, and will not stabilize, meaning that it will very likely return again in the near future. Most importantly, this is definitely not the recommendation I would have given my family if they were in this same situation.
As I have matured, I’ve changed my approach. I now always inform people about what my best recommendation is for their recovery, but provide options, and let them know that the choice is theirs to make.
2. Prayer
I pray daily for all of my patients.
I pray for their healing.
I pray for God’s wisdom in caring for them.
I pray that God uses me and my hands as He wishes in my patients’ journey to recovery.
I pray that all this occurs for His glory — not mine; because He is the one doing the healing — not me.
How grateful and humbled I am to be His servant!
3. Listening to God’s Guidance
This goes hand in hand with Prayer. Listening!
I am always seeking His guidance to care for all of my patients.
Here are a few examples of this happening:
- Here’s a story:
A 46-year-old man who had a severe disc herniation, which significantly affected quality of life, has turned around with bright light at the end of the tunnel 3/4’s of the way through Spinal Decompression Therapy and Chiropractic plan of management. His lower back pain was over 90% gone by this point, his Sciatica gone, and the hope of returning to a normal life was looking very promising!
One day, he showed up and was limping severely and very worried that this had all gone back to square one. I kept calm; my spirit knew this was going to settle down quickly. So I said — “Let’s not stress yet, there are several things that can feel like a pinched nerve — not just a disc herniation, including a simple misalignment in your spine. Let’s start by having a look.”
I prayed quietly, as I assessed his spine, that God would show me where the problem was — if this is truly a disc herniation relapse or simply a misalignment issue where the inflammation is pressing on the nerve, imitating his original disc problem.
As I assessed his spine for subluxations (misalignments), my finger touched the left side of the L5 vertebrae (at the bottom of the lower back). It just stuck out into my finger, and I knew with all of my heart that this was the cause of his concern — especially because when he was undergoing spinal decompression therapy for his Sciatica, this vertebra was not subluxated.
So we adjusted that vertebra. The patient stood up, and immediately his face showed amazement. “It’s gone!” He started to take some steps. No limp!
Praise the Lord!
- On another occasion, I was walking out of the treatment room. I had a feeling inside me — God’s voice saying — “you need to go back in, and pray for them”. So I listened. I am so glad that I did. The patient was in tears as I prayed. We were both strengthened by the experience.
- There have been countless times when the Lord has told me to pray aloud for someone as I work on them in the room, and other times that I simply pray quietly while working on them.
- Countless times when the Lord has told me to call or text individuals he has put on my heart at a very moment, these have always resulted in uplifting experiences, strengthening one another.
Well, there you have it. If you see me failing in any of these areas — please tell me! As I said earlier, I am far from perfect. However, I am teachable and always wanting to improve. So your constructive criticism is always welcome.
In health,
Dr. Nik Dukovac.
For those of you who are interested, as I said at the beginning of this post — here’s my story of surrendering to Christ:
I had grown up in a Christian home, but I did not put Jesus in charge of my day-to-day life decisions. I used to use him as my “genie in a bottle’ — praying only when I needed something.
I had heard of these “born-again Christians”, and honestly, those that I had met to this point (in my teenage years), I truly disliked. They seemed like self-righteous people, or people that I could sense were not truly genuine; putting up a front that they were perfect, when I knew that they really weren’t.
Then, at a Christian summer camp that my parents forced me to attend, I met so many amazing people who were REAL! Genuine, humble, open, and honest about their repeat failures at being a “good person”.
That summer, I finally decided to stop acting like a good person for the sake of it. I surrendered to Christ and have Him work through me, guide me in every way of life, and give me the strength to live out the life He has in store for me — the best life I could ever imagine — way better than what I could do on my own.
As I said, I am certainly not perfect, and have urges to take the reins back over from God to lead my life. In those moments, I recite Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd.