Tomorrow my dear friend Carol is having knee replacement surgery. Carol is a nurse and you know what they say about nurses…

they make the worst patients!

(Carol’s husband tells about the birth of their 1st child and how what he experienced during labor and delivery was like wrestling a grizzly bear)

Why is this? Why do nurses make difficult patients?

Because they know too much.

They know all the little things that can go wrong and that could cause serious concerns during surgery. They have seen things happen that shouldn’t happen. They know that doctors and nurses are humans with feet of clay – just like the rest of us (only smarter). I know Carol will be an exemplary patient tomorrow. She has to be – these are her co-workers!

I visited Carol this evening to take her a little gift, but mostly because I wanted to pray with her. We have been friends since we were two years old and have shared ALL of life’s important events together. (well, almost all…) I wanted to pray that God would bless her tomorrow and give her PEACE.

Now she must wait. It is so hard to wait. Our vivid imaginations can run wild with scenarios of possible outcomes.

We as women are often called on to wait. We may have to wait

• to get pregnant
• to give birth
• for ugly hair color to grow out
• until “things to settle down”  (does that ever happen?)
• for children after a practice or rehearsal
• for children to be potty trained
• for children to move out
• for children to come back
• for answered prayer

This list could go on and on. Life is full of waiting.

These times of waiting can either produce impatience and irritation in us, or peace and calm. The key is where our trust lies.

Romans 8:17-22  (NLT)

¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering     ¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

We all, as God’s children, are in the waiting room of God’s kingdom. I believe that we have a faithful God who we can trust to fulfill His purposes in His time.

What are you waiting for?

Do you have peace, or are you impatient and irritable?

I have been impatient at times and at other times I have been full of faith and peace. When I feel that irritation and impatience, I need to “fix my eyes in Jesus” who is the source of hope and peace. (Hebrews 11)

Carol is trusting God.  She has many family and friend praying for her – we will all be in the “waiting room” eager to hear the outcome.

May we all have the attitude David expresses in –

Psalm 62:5 (NLT)

Amen