Marriage Monday: In the Waiting Room

This is so totally crazy – I never would have guessed this is where I would wind up this Marriage Monday – in the waiting room.

This will be a short post as I’m doing it on my phone in this empty surgical waiting room. 3 days ago I never would have dreamed I’d be here waiting for my husband to have a craniotomy to treat a huge subdural hematoma. I didn’t even know what those words meant 3 days ago!

Oh yes, and this is in the middle of the Coronavirus outbreak and the governor is about to order a statewide quarantine.

Have you been in the Waiting Room?

This post isn’t about my husbands health. It’s about you and your waiting room. Have you been here?

You might have received a shocking call in the night. Or an unexpected health diagnosis in the doctors office. There’s not usually a lot of notice or time to get used to the idea.

Suddenly there you are in the waiting room.

What Do you Do?

For me, initially I was in shock. I literally had to drop Bruce off in front of the ER and drive away. I wasn’t even allowed to open my car door.

That was hard. In a very short time I got all kinds of scary and confusing information. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I cried. A lot.

I was kind of on overload. That’s normal. It’s ok. It’s perfectly fine to be there. But we don’t want to stay stuck there. It’s not a healthy place to be, physically or mentally or spiritually.

I had a good sleep the second night and woke up thinking, what’s the right thing to do? I have time since I can’t go see Bruce. What do I do with my time?

I went first to the Bible. Before we ‘do’ anything, we think. Our minds direct our actions. What is the best mindset for me today? I went to the book of Philippians.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:4-9

‬

What we Did in the Waiting Room

Gods ways of thinking bring light, love, and health. Here are some of the things we did. They all helped us put our challenges in perspective. They helped us see the good God was doing as we took our eyes off the scary. And they helped us give back in some small way by blessing other people.

• Prayed His word. On the phone I read the above passage to Bruce. That reminded us – oh yes – what are we about here?
• Started counting blessings. Thankfulness is so healthy, with each item of gratitude I wrote down, a worry was lifted from my shoulders. It guards your heart and your mind, really good brain science!
• Bruce started asking every nurse and doctor who came in his room how he could pray for them. Every single one was worried about Coronavirus. The crabby nurse from the day before was only worried about bringing the virus home to her dad who was a heavy smoker.
• I sent out mass emails asking for prayer for us but also for prayer for them. How can we pray for you at this time? We are still on mission for God. That felt so good.
• We scheduled a family Zoom conference so we could share funny stories and encouragements with Bruce. It was refreshing and uplifting for all of us. We will have to do this more often. Why do we wait until someone dies to tell them how much they mean to us?

I hope this will help you if you are in the waiting room today or next week.

from the waiting room,

deb