But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)
THE HARD PART
âIâll be waiting for you,â the woman said into her cell phone. âYes, the ambulance should be here soon.â She heaved a sigh. âI know, honey. I pray Daddy will be okay as well.â Her body collapsed into the molded plastic chair of the waiting room with the weariness I knew only too well.
I hadnât been eavesdropping, but the waiting room outside the ER at Crozer Medical Center echoed and was unusually empty on this Saturday night. From my own molded plastic chair across the aisle, I had made a similar phone call to my daughter just moments before. In the meantime, I waited and picked up my knitting project from what Bonnie and I called our âgo-bagsâ. Weâd been doing hospital runs for years. Waiting was always the hardest part.
LIKE AN EAGLE
The prophet Isaiah knew something about waiting. Isaiah 40:31 says âthey that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strengthâ. These words were meant to comfort the people of Israel who had been displaced from their homes and exiled from the Temple. Waiting was not a time to wring hands and moan, but a time to exercise faith that God would, in the right time, act.
Thatâs not to say that waiting is easy. Anyone whoâs ever sat in a hospital waiting room knows the challenge of the task! But letâs think of the next part of the verse: âThey shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faintâ Eagles know a thing or two about storms. Have you ever seen an eagle soaring up into the sky and wondered why? God has provided eagles with the ability to know that a storm is coming on; the eagle will allow the winds of the storm to lift it up to a higher spot. It doesnât ESCAPE the storm but uses the tempest of the storm to lift it higher.
And higher.
SOARING ABOVE
Weâd been through many storms in the years since my husband had been so seriously injured. By keeping our hearts and minds on God, my family had kept from being overcome by the many challenges of a chronically ill family member.
I thought about that now as I put down my knitting needles. I had no idea how long it would be until my daughter arrived to wait with me or until the ambulance brought my husband in. I had no idea what this latest health crisis would entail or how long he night remain in the hospital.
But I did know how to wait.
I put my knitting back in my bag, gathered up my possessions, and crossed the aisle to the woman sitting across from me.
WAITING OUT THE WINDS
âHello,â I said. âI donât mean to interrupt you. But I couldn’t help but hear your phone conversation. I feel that we might be on a similar journey tonight.â I smiled. âMy husband is being brought in by ambulance. I just called my daughter to come.â
The woman looked up at me, worry etched across her face. âMy husband, too,â she said. âAnd I just called my daughter.â
I nodded. âWaiting is hard. I thought that perhaps, until our daughters come, we could wait together.â
âThat would be wonderful,â she said and, moving her handbag, motioned me to sit next to her.
We exchanged a few words, but we didnât really talk. We didnât trade names, or phone numbers, or information about our husbands. We just waited.
But we didnât wait alone.
In due course, our daughters both arrived and the woman and I parted. After a while, a nurse came and called the woman and her daughter back to the patient rooms.Â
âThank you,â she said quietly as she passed my chair. âGod bless you.â
I didnât see her again but I knew that we had been there for each other at a time when no one should be alone.
During the two decades of Ronâs illnesses, Bonnie and I often found ourselves wedged into the molded plastic chairs of the typical hospital waiting room. We took comfort in being with each other and, whenever possible, we passed along our faith in God to others we met on our long journey.
Waiting is hard. But we never wait alone.
One thought on “Waiting Rooms”
What an important reminder to not wait alone. Though there are important times to be alone with God, most of the time we must connect with others. Because itâs easy for me to isolate, I so appreciate your message.