Trusting God in the Midst of Suffering: Waiting Patiently and Confidently

 

We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)  Romans 8:24-25 NLT

 Hope. We delved into it yesterday, but today it becomes more real, more palpable. Let’s dig in! Today’s verse says that we were given “this” hope when we were saved. What hope is that? Well, it came in the previous verse:

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.  Romans 8:23

 When we were saved, God gave us the future hope of realizing our full rights as His adopted children, including our heavenly bodies. These bodies will not know pain or suffering, decay or disease. Can you imagine? I can!

 Earlier in the passage (Romans 8:20-22), Paul talks about how creation has been groaning and looks forward to the day when it will be free from death and decay. Now he shares how we are groaning and longing to be released from sin and suffering. We wait with eager hope for it, waiting patiently and confidently, knowing it will come in God’s perfect timing.

 All this groaning is echoing in my mind. Creation is groaning, believers are groaning. When you think of groaning, what comes to mind? In its simplest form, I picture waking up every morning. Because of my Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (hEDS), while I sleep the muscles that overwork themselves trying to make up for loose joints release, just a little. Sometimes this leads to subluxations, or even full dislocations, but every day it leads to pain. That’s because things shift in my body while I sleep and when I wake my muscles go into overdrive trying to right the situation, it’s like they realized they fell asleep on the job and they have to hop to attention. So, when I wake up, every paraspinal muscle and intercostal (rib) muscle engages fully, even beyond what it ought to. The result? Pain which leads to groaning. Why am I groaning? Verse 23 above stated it well, “for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.” Oh what a day that will be!

 As our SOAP verse continues, we look at how we are supposed to hope. When we learned that I would need to undergo radiation for my brain tumor, my husband began redesigning the room across the hall from his office (the one that used to be my youngest son’s before he moved out last winter) and turning it into a “Lounge.” Full transparency, we initially called it the “Rest Room” because that’s what it was for, a place that I could rest in, but the kids said that was too confusing. What was I going to say, “I’m going to take a nap in the rest room”? Yeah, you could see how that wouldn’t communicate clearly. So, they renamed it the Lounge. The cornerstone of this new redesign was a chair. This would be my cozy nest to recuperate in. I will be spending many hours, days, weeks, who knows in it. We researched this purchase thoroughly, as you can imagine if you’ve followed along with me for any length of time. I was all over Amazon, reading reviews and considering different features. I had just about made up my mind to purchase one of their MCombo chairs, but I just couldn’t decide on the dimensions. Should it be oversized so I can sit criss-cross in it? Should it be short so it fits my stature or tall so anyone can use it? My husband, ever wise, suggested that we visit a La-Z-Boy showroom so that I could “Goldilocks” my way through and see what felt right. I moved from chair to chair, noticing how the depth of the seat mattered because it affected whether I had to “scooch” back and whether my feet could touch the floor. That came to matter because, as I tried different chairs, I found that I really like the rocking recliners. I didn’t think that rocking would matter when I was looking at chairs online, but it turns out that there was something soothing and calming about them. I was hooked! Then, I found my chair. It wasn’t too big, it wasn’t too small, it fit me just right. It was a power chair so I didn’t have to worry about having the strength to pull back the lever. It rocked gently and smoothly. And its width matched me perfectly. I could rest my arms on its sides and, if I wanted to, I could sit criss-cross with my knees cradled by its soft arms. Armed with measurements and dimensions, we went home to order something online, but it just didn’t feel right. The reviews set us to worrying about quality, longevity and more. None of them were *quite* right. We kept thinking back to that perfect chair I had sat in in the show room. And so, because we wanted something solid, something that would last indefinitely, and would have a good warranty if it didn’t, we decided to give in and buy the La-Z-Boy. I would have ordered it online because Rakuten was offering 15% cash back for their website, but we couldn’t quite decide on the color. My memory didn’t match up to the printout they had sent us home with. Nothing seemed quite clear, so we headed back to the showroom the next day. After looking through swatches and deciding on a color (which of course was the exact color of the perfect chair I had sat in), we threw it out there to see if the sales person would match Rakuten’s 15% off and he did! So, we put our order in and set about to wait. You see, La-Z-Boys are made to order, custom designed. You get to choose all sorts of options, and they put it together exactly to your specifications. But this takes time. How much time? That remains to be seen. The sales rep said it would be 4-8 weeks, though he hoped for the shorter end of the time with how things had been going lately. We weren’t concerned about this because I had more than four months until I began radiation, but wouldn’t you know, just after we ordered the chair, we received news that my radiation was being moved up by three months! So, now our waiting is a little more intensified. Will it get here in time? Will we be coordinating finishing the lounge around starting radiation? But you know what? I’m not worried. I’m leaning into the last part of our scripture for today, “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” God has so clearly orchestrated every bit of timing when it comes to this season of our lives. Things have fallen into place day after day, hour after hour. Everything has happened at just the right time, even when it felt like we were waiting interminably as we were for getting news back from the Tumor Board. I have no doubt that He will work the timing of my chair’s arrival just as well. It will be here at just the right time, in just the right way, whatever that will look like. I am waiting patiently and confidently.

Here’s the Thing: Just as I am waiting for my chair to rest in, I am also waiting for my full rights as God’s adopted daughter to be realized, including the new body He has promised me. When God makes a promise, that’s an absolute. You can count on it. There’s no “if” only a “when.” And we don’t know when that “when” will be, but He does. He has it all worked out perfectly, and we just need to sit back and wait patiently and confidently.