«Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand» (Philippians 4:5).
Sitting in the waiting room, Elizabeth Turnage wondered if others could hear her heart beating desperately. Doctors suspected that her twenty-four-year-old son, who had apparently been in perfect health, had a brain tumor. Elizabeth’s father was battling fourth-stage prostate cancer. She couldn’t take any more pain. It was too much! As the minutes passed waiting for the doctors’ diagnosis, her anxiety increased. Her mind began to be flooded with questions: What if it’s cancer? What if I lose my job? What if my son dies? While all the possible scenarios bombarded her mind like flashes in a frenzied film, Elizabeth began to think about her son’s hair. Her son had always taken very good care of his hair, but if he underwent surgery and chemotherapy, he would lose it. Then a clear and different thought came to her mind: «My son’s hairs are numbered; not one will fall to earth without God’s noticing it.» Knowing that Jesus was near him gave her peace amid the anxiety and loneliness of the waiting room. «In the disturbing realities of a health crisis, even when death is a real possibility, we must be persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus,» Elizabeth said in The Waiting Room. «This brings comfort, peace, and hope.»
When the doctors confirmed the dreaded diagnosis, Elizabeth spent countless hours in waiting rooms. Her son had four surgeries over a seven-month period which saved his life. When anxiety about infections and the period of recovery after the operations attacked her, Elizabeth clung to the truth that «the Lord is at hand» (Philippians 4:5). Although many of us like to emphasize the verse that follows, where it says that we should not be anxious about anything, but pray, Elizabeth believed that the reason why we should not be filled with anxiety is that the Lord is at hand.
Jesus is with us in the waiting room, but He is also about to return and destroy death and sickness forever.
Dear Lord, when anxiety attacks me, please remind me that You are very close to me. Even in the waiting rooms of life, You shine the light of your presence and flood me with peace. Nothing and no one can separate me from Your love!
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Take From: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2022
«NO FEARS»
BY: VANEZA PISSUTO
Collaborators: Alexandra Pérez & Angelica Cuate.
