Dr. Tara Wakefield, MD

"We receive God's grace not just for our own healing and comfort but to extend it to others."

About the founder

They say hindsight is 20:20…

Dr. Tara Wakefield feels this way about the unexpected twists and turns in her life. Due to a combination of family history and life events, she suspected she might have Asperger Syndrome or a similar Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) in her 40s; the actual diagnosis came in approximately September 2020. The diagnosis has helped her put her failures and experiences into perspective, learn from them, and forgive herself.

Dr. Tara describes her early faith journey as fear-laden. Although she grew up attending St. Luke’s United Methodist Church with her parents, she found herself drawn to more conservative circles with definite black-and-white theology when she went to college. During college, she developed an interest in long-term mission work, which was really more of an obsession. Fascinated with the Tamajek, more commonly known by the derogatory name of Tuareg, meaning “infidel” in Arabic, she studied them in an ethnomusicology course and a Medicines of the World course.

Dr. Tara kept herself motivated to persist in medical school by planning her fourth-year elective to Niger to work among this group of people at the Galmi hospital with Serving In Mission (SIM). While serving with SIM, she met a Canadian man from Saskatchewan, an irrigation agrologist who also expressed interest in long-term mission work. After a bit of a long-distance relationship, they married in July of 2000.

Asperger Syndrome symptoms tend to wane a bit with age, though, which has contributed to her continuing to evolve well into adulthood. She moved to Saskatchewan with her husband directly from residency in Minnesota. The move back to Saskatchewan was intended to be an 18-month return-of-service obligation before heading overseas to Niger. Instead, her husband prolonged the stay due to the desire to remain on the family farm.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tara’s theology continued to progress and grew more moderate. Since she no longer considered homosexuality a sin, she did not fit the profile of an “acceptable” missionary to SIM. Other circumstances made the marriage very difficult, and she and her husband found they had very little in common. When she filed for divorce in 2011, a bitter custody battle ensued.

Dr. Tara also felt distant from God and depressed during this time. She had thought she had carefully followed God’s will and plan for her life, but maybe she had gotten it all wrong. She contemplated whether or not she even heard from God and perhaps made everything up in her own mind! Maybe, she failed Him, and He rejected Her! 

Alas, Dr. Tara resigned to the belief that she was not God’s chosen one and He simply hadn’t found favor in her —like Romans 9:13 “. . . Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This realization and combined circumstances brought Dr. Tara to a breaking point where she contemplated ending her life. But, Dr. Tara knew suicide was not an option; she couldn’t bring this devastation to her daughters and parents.

God did provide support for her, though. She attended a Bible study of older, primarily divorced, and some widowed women at a more progressive church in the town. They prayed over each other while diving into intense Beth Moore Bible studies on Deuteronomy, Daniel, and John. Dr. Tara experienced genuine fellowship. This support ultimately helped her garner the strength she would need to leave Saskatchewan. Although she had to leave her daughters behind, she knew the move to Indianapolis would provide a better, more authentic life for her own well-being (and eventually for her daughters).

In Indianapolis, she filed for another custody trial based on the new circumstances. She found success and reunited with her daughters. Dr. Tara also obtained a job in immediate care for a couple of years. When she gained some confidence and got her ABFM certification, Dr. Tara transitioned to a family practice position in Greenfield. Later, she found the opportunity to work closer to home with Community Network in Indianapolis. In 2022, she began a new adventure at Raphael Health Center, an FQHC in the Mapleton-Fall Creek area.

As Dr. Tara’s experience grew, so did her confidence. Her faith has continued to grow as well—more progressive in theology. Dr. Tara enjoys attending LifeJourney Church. Other than the sermons by Pastor Jeff, her favorite part of the service is reading the creed/affirmation poem:

Married, divorced, and single here, it’s one family that mingles here.

Conservative and liberal here, we’ve all gotta give a little here.

Big and small here, there’s room for us all here.

Doubt and believe here, we all can receive here.

Gay, trans, and straight here, there’s no hate here.

Woman and man here, everyone can here.

Each and every gender here, in all our splendor here.

Whatever your race here, for all of us grace here.

Christ above us, Christ beside us, Christ within us. Amen.

Dr. Tara has realized that we cannot comprehend the greatness of God’s love and grace. Life is a journey, not a destination. We need to make the most of our mistakes to learn from them. We can hear God’s voice through the Holy Spirit (perhaps not always perfectly) — we’ll mess up sometimes. God’s love embraces us as well as those previously considered outcasts.

Dr. Tara also believes Jews used their Scripture to condemn Gentiles–until Peter’s experience with Cornelius and his extended family in Acts 10. Americans have also misused Scripture to justify the status quo, and social evils once considered “normal.” Examples include:

  • Justification of slavery and ongoing racism that prevents Blacks from competing on an even playing field with white people;
  • Subjugation of women and denying them equal rights and opportunities, equal pay, and equal bodily autonomy;
  • Homophobia that has prevented LGBTQ+ people from marrying, having children, adopting, among other privileges.

As Christians, we should strive to become more Christi-like. Just because an institution or practice is biblical, doesn’t make it Christ-like. We need to keep doing better as we learn more.

Dr. Tara says, “If you want to go where God is moving, seek out the pariahs of society. We receive God’s grace not just for our own healing and comfort but to extend it to others.”

Dr. Tara has retained the perfectionism accompanying her ‘Aspiness,’ but God used her life experiences to break and rebuild her, including the passing of her brother after a 30-year struggle with drug addiction. She believes people are more than ‘one thing.’ While deeply flawed, we can still give and receive love, and we still bear the Imago Dei. She has love and grace for herself and others and strives to continually “learn more and do better.”

So, now she seeks to use these life experiences and her previous short-term mission experience for good works. (By the way, these missions have included: four, week-long visits to Haiti, multiple months in Niger, and two visits to Uganda. Dr. Tara has also served in Columbia and Honduras.

Dr. Tara is more secure than ever in her faith and identity in Christ. She understands now that God’s grace is big—bigger than we can fathom