An All Too Familiar Place

Whisper quiet, dim lit hallway.  Faint sounds of a television playing in the dark lounge.  Leaning against a cold wall waiting for my child to finish in the bathroom, down the hall waits an anxious family awaiting a tardy doctor with biopsy results. 

The loud “WOOSH” of the toilet crashes through the hush and off we go back down the long corridor to sit and wait with them.

My Mother-in-law was just going in for a pulled muscle when the doctors discovered an all together different diagnosis, Cancer.

Poof!  Just like that we in our familiar place - unknown medical terms, uncertain future, plans abruptly altered, fear taking over.  The repeating script has gone something like this: appointments, surgery dates, long hospital stays, even longer recoveries, repeated hospital stays and twice, death, funerals and learning how to live without them.

Your familiar place might be different than mine, but have you found yourself in a repeating storyline?  Can you read the script by heart? Was there only a short time of peace before the storm came back around?  Do you find yourself breathing out those long sighs of, “I’m tired.” 

These moments give us a choice.  Standing there in that familiar hallway I can decide to lean into my faith or I can start shoveling into the depths of doubt, fear, and anxiety.  With my last bit of strength I want to choose to lean on my Savior, not waste my energy digging.  

So join me and put down your shovel.  Let’s lean hard into some truth in these familiar places.  After all while we lean, our Savior holds us up.  Rest in His arms:

Matthew 10:29-31

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Romans 8:28

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Psalm 34:17-18

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  

Do you have favorite verses or quotes that help you during difficult times?  Write them down.  Put them somewhere you can see every morning when you wake up.  Put them as the wallpaper on your phone, screen saver on your laptop, tape them up in your office.