Delivering faith

Love of labor

Obstetrician Lillian Miller shares her winding path to faith, family and fulfillment

Babies were not part of Lillian Miller’s plan. Not for her career and not for her personal life.

“It’s so interesting to see the Lord’s path. If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be where I am now, I would say you are out of your mind,” Lillian said, her voice full of emotion.

Lillian decided to be a physician at 12 years old. She was the youngest of ten children, so she decided on a career that allowed her to care for others and support herself. “That’s how I chose medicine. And there was no veering off the path for me.” Obstetrics, however, was not what she had in mind. Not until her plan for family practice didn’t fit and pediatric oncology fell through. Lillian ended up in obstetrics, almost as if someone else had planned it out for her all along.

Dr. Lillian Miller spends many hours inside hospital buildings, but she finds peace in the outdoors, especially the woods. Her love of nature stretches back to a childhood surrounded by brothers. Decades later, the forest smell of dirt and leaves is still a comfort to her.

PHOTO COURTESY LILLIAN MILLER

For years, Dr. Lillian Miller practiced as a traditional OB-GYN. She delivered babies, but she also prescribed contraceptives and performed tubal ligation surgery. Then came a Bible Study.

Lillian recalled this pivotal moment in her life, “We read a book called Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free. There was a chapter about family size…I wrote in the notes of that chapter, Lord, I prescribe contraception in my medical practice, and I tie tubes. If I am in any way hurting you, please change my heart. He did. He changed my heart.”

Lillian had never learned about Natural Family Planning in medical training, but she listened to Christopher West speak about the Theology of the Body. “It became clear to me. I either had to quit, or I had to change my medical practice.” It was a difficult, frightening decision. She opted to change her practice to fit her values. There was pushback –hate letters and threats – but her practice flourished. She has cared for hundreds of patients. She has delivered countless babies. “[My patients] say I blessed them, but they blessed me. The Domestic Church is just so beautiful.”

That appreciation for the Domestic Church has grown beyond her career. She also became a mother. “My husband wanted six kids, and I wanted zero. We got married anyway,” Lillian said. Working with families changed her heart. “I thought, I am going to miss this. That maternal instinct kicked on,” she said. After her first son was born, she converted to Catholicism. “But I didn’t understand that Catholic Church,” Lillian explained. With four children in tow, “I ended up going back to the Methodist Church from 1999 until 2010,” she said.

Lillian is looking forward to spending more time with her husband and four children in retirement. She is leaving the area to settle in a small, peaceful home surrounded by nature in North Carolina.

PHOTO COURTESY LILLIAN MILLER

At the same time that she was convicted to change her medical practice, another conviction took hold of her heart. “I started starving for the Eucharist,” Lillian said. She returned to the Catholic Church, made a good confession, then received the Eucharist for the first time in more than a decade.

As Lillian’s love for the Catholic Church grew, it became an essential part of her work. “When my patients are having a long labor, I go to my call room and pray the rosary because I know I am a doctor, but God is in control. I am not in control. Who better to put them in than the hands of the Lord? He is the Great Physician!”

Scripture study was a powerful experience for Dr. Lillian Miller. “I was convicted when I studied Genesis that God is the Author and Creator of life,” she said. It changed the way she practiced medicine.

PHOTO COURTESY LILLIAN MILLER

“He has allowed me to walk with Him and take care of His children. It’s such a blessing. And I will miss them,” she said. After three decades in medicine, Dr. Lillian Miller recently retired. It was another tough decision. “I learned the word vocation. I asked the Lord, ‘What is my vocation?’ I heard Him say to me, ‘your vocation is to be a wife and a mother.’ This is the gift. It took me so long to realize what’s really important here. It wasn’t about being the doctor; it was about being who God created me to be.”

Still, she is sorely missed, of course. Peter Range, Chief Executive Officer of Ohio Right to Life, said that not only will he and his wife personally miss her, but the entire community will: “Dr. Miller has touched countless lives, including our own. She is too humble to admit it, but she’s saved countless lives as well. From helping women in unexpected pregnancies to her calm demeanor under fire in the delivery room, Dr. Miller is a rare combination of grace, love, grit and medical excellence. You simply cannot replace a woman like Dr. Miller in our community and we’ll never be able to replace her for our family. She’s held each of our children in the delivery room, has taken personal calls deep in the night from my wife and has always reminded us of God’s grace in our meetings. There is no one like Dr. Miller and there never will be again.”