Faith in the Waiting Room

An Advocate in Every Storm

In the last three weeks, my family has found ourselves in and out of hospitals three separate times.

It began with my father-in-law, the man who helped mold my husband into the man he is today, fighting the good fight until the very end and entering his eternal rest. Just days later, I was back in the hospital being treated for an orthopedic injury of my own. Then, before we had much time to recover from either, my beloved mother was admitted while battling pneumonia and severe dehydration.

In the span of just a few weeks, it felt like one hospital stay had barely ended before another began.

I have spent more hours in hospital waiting rooms over the last three weeks than I probably have in my entire 33 years of life.

I’ve seen these overrun and understaffed hospitals with my own eyes. I watched my own mother spend 24 hours on a gurney in the passageway of an emergency department before finally being admitted to a unit with a room of her own. I’ve watched doctors, nurses, and other medical staff navigate their units with such confidence and familiarity, while all around them patients are navigating pain, discomfort, uncertainty, fear, and loss.

It really puts life into perspective.

I feel like I’ve been going through one storm after another ever since the very beginning of my pregnancy in the summer of 2024. I’ve jokingly told my friends that I am begging God not to renew me for His “toughest soldier package” for another year in a row. 😅

But over this last month, I’ve also watched my husband advocate fiercely for his father, for me, and for my mom during each of our hospital stays. And watching him reminded me that the Bible tells us that we, too, have an Advocate with our Heavenly Father.

No matter what trials, challenges, losses, or hardships life throws our way, God is there with us. He is fighting for us, sustaining us, and helping us endure what we never thought we would have the strength to endure.

And as difficult as this season has been, I keep coming back to James 1:2-4. Scripture tells us to consider it joy when we face trials because the testing of our faith produces perseverance. And perseverance is doing a work in us, maturing us and perfecting us.

That doesn’t mean the hard things don’t hurt. It doesn’t mean we have to pretend to enjoy them. It means we can trust that even in the hardest seasons, God is still doing something.

So, my dear friends, I encourage you as I encourage myself:

Life may have you on the ropes right now. You may feel like it has been one hard thing after another, with barely enough time to catch your breath before the next thing comes.

But no season lasts forever.

Hang in there. Don’t give up your faith. Keep trusting God even when you don’t understand what He’s doing. What feels like it is breaking you may very well be building something in you that you cannot see yet.

And apparently, if you too have been enrolled in the “toughest soldier package,” just know I’m praying for all of our subscriptions to expire soon. 😅