The Waiting

We were getting a bit impatient in the hospital room, mom and I. They had said mom would be taken down for the surgery on her back by that time that morning, and, having waited a few weeks for this procedure to be done, we were on the edge of our seats. We should have known they would be late…and that God had a blessing for us in the waiting.

After so many weeks in the hospital, one gets to know most of the nurses and techs on the floor as they rotate through their shifts. As “Tam” came in to check mom’s blood pressure, we played on with the usual small talk before she started asking mom some get-to-know-you questions. “Have you always lived here?” she asked mom. Then she turned that same question to me. And that’s when things got interesting.

“I lived in Belgium for four years,” I replied. “Really? What were you doing there?” “I was a missionary.” That led to a few deeper questions about what I did in that capacity, which, given how she was asking her questions, I answered a tad generically. Shame on me. Because Tam then said quietly, “I am growing in the Lord, too.”

How does the conversation go from where you have lived to where your heart is so quickly? God sent Tam to us in those moments because we desperately needed to be encouraged. But we needed to do some encouraging, too, which turned into a great blessing. Tam’s daughter had just moved to another big city, and was struggling with some heavy personal things. Tam hadn’t heard from her in a while, and felt the strain on their relationship. 

Tam was positive God was working in her own life, and shared a story about how she knew it was Him. It was beautiful to hear because I could see and feel it was the same God showing her His love in the same way (through different circumstances) that He shows me.

I saw Tam a few days later at the other end of the hall from mom’s room. She gave me a big hug and said that she had wanted to tell me something. The afternoon after we had talked, her daughter had sent her a few texts, and had ended by sending a heart ( <3  ). She knew that offering from her daughter had been as a result of our prayers that morning.

While we were sitting there anxiously waiting on flawed human timing, God provided mom and Tam and me a beautiful, encouraging appointment in His perfect timing. Have you seen God in the life of anyone around you lately? Have you been willing to look for Him? Be encouraged to trust the Lord in all things, and to seek and find him both in the moments you mean to, and in the moments of waiting.

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Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14