Devotionals for the Heart: Lessons learned while in the Emergency Room

God is with us
A devotional by Christa MacDonald

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 
– Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

There is little in this world that tests both faith and patience like the emergency room. I would know. I’ve spent an awful lot of time in them recently with loved ones in health crises.

We’ve arrived in a rush, panicked, and after vitals are taken and decisions made we wait. Nurses come and go with various treatments and tests and we wait. I’m not a particularly impatient person, but I’m used to being in charge, and when sickness comes, it’s the boss. A kind of tension develops between the fervency of my prayer and the stretches of time with no updates.

It’s in these moments that I think about Psalm 46:10a (ESV), “Be still and know that I am God.” The song floats through my mind as well. Being still is not something I excel at. I’m a doer. When trouble starts, I make a plan to end it.

But in life there’s so much I can’t plan my way around, so much that is outside my control. Sometimes I have to sit in it and deal with the trouble as it is. It’s easy to be angry at God in these moments, to doubt that He’s even paying attention to what I’m going through. That’s when I remember this verse from Joshua.

God is with me wherever I go, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Even in the emergency room when things seem pretty bleak, He’s there.

When my daughter was a toddler she’d often run ahead of me, giggling with happiness at her newfound freedom. She’d look around and think she was alone, but I was there. I was with her, watching, making sure she didn’t get lost. I think that’s how God is with us – we can’t see Him or feel Him, but He’s with us in our troubles.

God has not promised us an easy life, free of difficulty. Far from it.

The New Testament is full of warning that we’ll face persecution and trials. But we won’t be alone. We can draw strength from our saving faith in Jesus Christ to be “strong and courageous.” If we try to draw from ourselves, we’re lost. The reserve of strength inside us is limited. I’ve hit my limit more times than I can count. It’s a terrible feeling to know that you’re at the very end of whatever emotional and physical strength that you have. It’s a lonely feeling as well.

Instead of relying on ourselves, we need to remember that God is with us. He is our strength, and, in reality, He is where any strength that we might seem to have comes from. We don’t need to despair or fear.

God is walking with us, sitting in the emergency room with us, the boardroom, the courtroom, the classroom. God is with us so we can be strong with His strength and courageous to live the life that He has given us.

So don’t be frightened, don’t be dismayed. Wherever we go, God goes with us.

~*~
Author Bio:

Christa MacDonald is a 2017 ACFW Carol Award finalist for contemporary Christian fiction.

A native New Englander, she was inspired by her travels through the north woods of Maine to write The Broken Trail, which would become the first in the Sweet River Redemption series published by Mountain Brook Ink.

Christa's writing focuses on the real-life challenges of the modern world, love’s sometimes crooked path, and the redemptive power of Grace.

When not working or writing Christa can be found ferrying her kids around, reading, or attempting something crafty.

She and her husband live with their three kids, two cats, and one dog along the coast of New England. Connect with Christa at www.christamacdonald.com.

Devotionals for the Heart: God as your source of strength

Where Strength Is Found
A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” 

~Isaiah 40:31 ESV

In August 2002, I was a homeschool mother of three (including one toddler), I worked part-time, and my husband commuted over an hour each way to work at a church that had seven services each weekend. I was pursuing a career writing and speaking on marriage and family issues. Busy doesn’t begin to describe my life.

I was also scheduled to have a much-needed surgery that included three procedures. I was nervous about that, and a bit unhappy about the recovery time involved, as well as the accompanying disruptions to life and schedule. Consequently, in the days leading to the surgery, I had trouble sleeping. I expressed as much to my doctor, and he prescribed something to help me sleep.

Unfortunately, I was highly allergic to that medication. After taking it, I had an anaphylactic reaction and almost died. My husband found me and called an ambulance, and I spent the rest of that night in the critical care area of our local emergency room.

That reaction fried something in my brain and left me with residual symptoms that increased over time. I experienced coordination issues, tremors in my hands, memory issues, and headaches. But the worst problem was intermittent paralysis on my right side. As days and weeks passed, my right side often looked like I’d just had a stroke—my right foot turned in, my right hand drawn up, my head falling over, mouth and eye drooping. Eventually, I had to take a medical leave from work, I could not drive, go to church, or do other normal life things to take care of my family. My career pursuits completely stopped.

To say I struggled with God during that time is an understatement. I could not reconcile a holy God who called me to write and speak, yet left me with a body that could not write or speak. Sitting in church while others sang around me, left me feeling hurt and abandoned.

As I sought God and He impressed upon me three things: Shellie, do not go to dark places inside. Do not tell yourself your life is over. Thank me for every breath.

With all my physical abilities nearly gone, I determined to be obedient to what I felt God saying in my spirit. And I decided if the only thing I could offer as a sacrifice to God was my attitude—not my writing or speaking or anything else—I was going to have the best attitude possible.

So, I waited for healing. I waited and waited, following what God had spoken to me, and maintaining the best attitude I could. Positive, hopeful, and thankful. And I learned the meaning of Isaiah 40:31.

It is in the waiting we find strength. Not when our needs are met. Not when we get relief from our burdens. Strength is found only when we wait on God. When we stay in His presence, listening for His voice, following His directives, and in total dependence on Him. That’s where strength is found.

God healed my brain on May 18, 2005, almost three years after the reaction. But I know it took more of God to carry me through those years than it did for Him to heal me. If I had not found strength in waiting on Him, I’m certain I would have lost hope, become bitter, and turned from Him.

I’m so thankful for this verse because it takes the pressure off. We don’t have to figure out the answers to our challenges. We don’t have to guess or figure out how God is going to take care of us. Rather, we simply have to wait in His presence with hopeful expectation as He does His work. Rest in Him, my friend, and find strength.

~*~
Author Bio:

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that.

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources. 

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.
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Connect with Shellie:
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Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
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Website - www.shelliearnold.com