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| Photo Credit: Rachel Spurgeon |
This week has been a week of waiting. I have decided that the most physically
demanding and labor intensive work a woman can find to do is not has hard on a
person as when we are put to the task of
waiting.
Life has lots of waiting rooms; and in those waiting rooms
we have a lot of time to think. I know,
I have spent quite a bit of time this past week in literal and figurative waiting
rooms. Waiting is hard. In the past I have waited for many
things: offers on homes to be accepted,
college tests to be returned with a passing grade, babies to be born, babies to
be adopted, a strong willed child to repent, job offers to be extended… The list could go on and on: All times of waiting.
This week we have waited to see if my husband has
cancer.
I have been challenged these past couple of weeks to keep my
mind from wandering during this time of waiting. To stop the ping – pong ball from hitting all
corners of my mind with doubt and questions that I cannot answer. The only way I can do that it to focus on
TRUTH. It is the only thing that has
made the waiting bearable – in fact, in some ways it has become a sweet time
because I have been drawn into time of meditation on God and His goodness to me
.
Waiting has become bearable this past week as I have focused
on the faithfulness of God to me. God
has been so good to me. His mercies are
new every morning. He never stops loving
me. He has given me everything I need to
live the Christian life. He never leaves
me. He is always FOR me – never against
me. He does not base His acceptance on
me based on how I perform – I’m always accepted and cherished as one of His
children. Oh, I could keep going on and
on. Ever faithful!
There is not a waiting room or a period of waiting that will
leave me with more time than blessings to review.
I have also found these past couple of weeks that the
waiting has been so much easier knowing that others are praying for us and are
holding us up in prayer. I cannot even
begin to tell you what a blessing it has been to read messages sent to us from
friends telling us that they are praying for us! I have
been amazed at how God has used cards, texts, messages, phone calls and many
other things to let us know that people are praying for us and that we are not
alone. Here is one example of how God used another
sister in Christ to minister to me during a difficult time:
While we were in the surgeon’s office she made it very clear
that she was very concerned about what the symptoms that had arisen in just a
few days.
She went on to explain that
she had concerns that not only could the tumor possibly be cancerous but that
we could be dealing with
one of the most deadliest cancers on record.
My
hands were shaking and my thoughts were racing as we made appointments for the
biopsy to be done at the hospital.
I was
disappointed when I walked out of the building because I had wanted to leave
that visit having the worst case scenario checked off the list.
Not only was it not crossed off my list – it had
been added to the doctor’s list as something to check for!
I sat
in the car stunned and staring off into space trying to take it all in.
My phone was in my lap and when it buzzed I
was brought back into reality with the following text message:
“Praying, Martie. For
you and Rob and the kids. For God to
guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
For him to take every overwhelming thought and protect you in His
peace.”
That text was as much from God as it was from my friend
living miles and miles away and not even realizing what we had just learned and
the disappointment of my heart at that very moment! God was using another sister in Christ to
minister to me at the very moment I needed it!
My God is an awesome God!
It has been a blessing to me to have friends praying,
calling and sending me verses – just when I needed *that* verse. It has been a challenge to me in my own
everyday life to make sure that I follow the Holy Spirit’s leading when I am
impressed to call someone, or send an email or a card. God uses us to bless and minister to those
whom He knows are hurting and in need of encouragement. The bond of Christ has been a source of great
encouragement to me – and has made the waiting room we are in at this time
bearable.
Perhaps the source of greatest encouragement that has made
the waiting bearable has been the focus on the eternal and not the temporal. Waiting causes us to see life for what it
really is. In a moment the blinders can
be taken off our eyes and we see how vain and empty so much of what we view as
important really is. This has happened
in the last two weeks. Heaven seems so
much closer than it was a month ago. It’s not, you know, our focus has just been
adjusted. It’s been a good adjustment to see how fragile life can be – none of
us is guaranteed tomorrow. It’s been
good for us to think about Heaven and all the wonderful things that await us
there
God is so good! SO
GOOD! We will praise Him no matter
what. Today we will go into the surgeon’s
office and we will get some type of news.
This part of the waiting will be over.
Decisions and treatments will be
planned (even if there is no cancer – there is still a health crisis that needs
to be addressed). Today will mark the
day when we look back to either the bump in the road – (when we had the big
cancer scare) - or it will mark the day that cancer became a part of our
lives. God will be as good tonight when
we go to bed as He was this morning. He
is good all the time. We are going to
praise Him no matter what the outcome; and we are going to thank Him for the
blessings He brought along the way of waiting.
The time we have had to view His faithfulness to us, the blessing of
being in the family of God and the wonderful promise that this life is not the
end – this world is not our home and Heaven is just around the corner.
Thanks for all your prayers – notes and encouragement through
this time. They have been a blessing to
us.
God is Good – ALL THE TIME!
