Be Still and Know That He is God - Lou Ann Karabel

Be Still, and Know That He Is God

Recently I've been getting lessons in waiting.

Not just the kind of waiting we experience daily. Waiting in line. Waiting for a dropped call to reconnect. Waiting for our children or grandchildren to put their shoes on so we can leave the house!

There's another kind of waiting we all do at some point in our lives, a harder kind, a kind that requires faith and reliance on God.

One of our dearest friends was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma nearly a year ago. He endured the extreme chemotherapy very well. He has been in remission for several months, but he and his wife have lived in a constant state of waiting since his illness first began.

You probably know what that's like.

From the moment a possible diagnosis is mentioned, the waiting begins, and with every test and every doctor's appointment, the fear and anxiety grow. How long will he be in remission? Did the doctors find it all? How much time will we have together?

Why is everything taking so long?

This is when God says,

"Come to me, and I will give you rest."

"My peace I give to you, not as the world gives."

God is present in the waiting, in so many ways:

In caring medical practitioners.

In the prayers of faithful people.

In arms that hold us close.

In hearts that listen quietly and offer support.

In friends and family who simply come alongside us through the process.

As I write this blog, I'm sitting in the waiting room of a hospital in southern Indiana, where my brother-in-law will have tests to find out the condition of his heart, and the treatment it will require.

Last night I asked my sister how she was doing. She said, "We just pray as in all situations that God's will be done. He knows what's best. That's how we have always prayed, so why stop now?"

Why, indeed?

God has promised, "My power is made perfect in your weakness."

In the moments when the future seems unsure, in the moments when we are at our weakest, if we can remember those words and cling to the promise, the waiting will be easier.

We won't care less about outcomes.

Worry won't completely vanish.

But as believers, we will endure the waiting, knowing that Jesus holds our hands and waits beside us.

Thanks be to God.

Lou Ann Karabel