Waiting for the "all better"

Almost all better. Sounds a bit like our COVID-impacted world these days. It’s also the news my husband and I received at the doctor’s office a few weeks ago.

Almost all better. About 65% healed. Not exactly the news we were hoping to hear. Nine weeks after my husband’s bicycling accident – and six weeks after surgery to insert a plate and five screws to help bones reattach properly – we were both hoping for an all clear/all better. Still, 65% was progress.

This news reminded me of what our pastor had said that week, about how God has, indeed, been healing my husband through his self-repairing, miraculously created body. The seven broken ribs, some with multiple fractures, have already, amazingly, healed on their own. We just need to wait a couple more weeks before his collarbone is declared ALL better!

Almost all better. Compared to what life looked like back in March and April, as COVID-19 struck our planet, life has definitely gotten better! Some of us can worship together in person again, meet friends for a meal at a restaurant, hear the sounds of more flights overhead as air travel slowly resumes. Some schools are meeting on site instead of online. Progress!

And yet, we are still waiting for the “all better,” which in my mind equals returning to the way things were, throwing off these “new normals” – like my husband “threw” off the sling he’d been wearing for nine weeks. But God, in his sovereignty, may just be hoping to use this waiting time in my life – and perhaps yours – to help me, to help us, grow. My husband’s sling was not some kind of cruel punishment designed to impede his freedom, but rather a crucial tool designed to immobilize his arm and promote growth and healing.

Hmmm. Waiting. A tool to help me grow and heal?

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14) “We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.” (Psalm 33:20-21)

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him...” (Psalm 37:7)

“My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning...” (Psalm 130:6)

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”(Lam. 3:25-26)

Waiting, especially patiently and quietly, isn’t something I do well. Yet, as we’ve been reminded over the past months, perhaps God is wanting to teach us (me!) things about himself, his character, as we continue living in this COVID world.

Questions for discussion

1. What are some areas in your life that are not “all better” yet?

2. What might it look like for you to “wait” for the Lord in those areas?

3. How would you describe your ability to wait patiently and quietly upon the Lord?

4. Some days waiting is easier than other days. Sometimes we desperately need a word of encouragement to not give up, to keep pressing on, to refocus on our goals.

Who, in your life, provides you with that kind of encouragement?

How have others come alongside you during COVID in ways that have most encouraged you?

What have they done and/or said that has been helpful?
Who are YOU encouraging?

Ask God to show you one person you can encourage this week. Take the initiative in reaching out to them and helping them to regain perspective with whatever they may be facing. Remind them that God’s grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Be his hands and feet.

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