Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Doctor/Nurse (11/02/06)
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TITLE: The Doctor Is In | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marita Vandertogt
11/07/06 -
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I was sick this last week, so I called my doctor to get an appointment, and he very kindly fit me in the same morning I called. So then I went down to the office where I sat in the waiting room holding my lungs back until I swore they’d burst and hit the sterile green walls. I kept telling myself, he’s fitting you in, be grateful. Just sit there and soon it’ll be your turn. To keep my mind off my flu bug, I picked up a magazine in the rack and started to leaf through. I was aware enough to see that the date was current. It hadn’t been lying around for years. That gave me a weird sense of comfort.
Patients names were called, and each one went in ahead of me. My watch stared up, its big face taunting. “See”, it seemed to say, like in an Alice in Wonderland play. “You’re turn will never get here.” And then went back to being just an ordinary watch. I knew my situation was worsening.
And then it happened. My name was called and I foolishly put down my magazine and walked into the next chamber without it. The pre-waiting room, only this time armed with nothing but a talking watch. And there I sat, and waited some more, free now, however, to cough and prove to the office that I should indeed be here.
As the minutes kept moving, carrying my long wait with them, I started to think. This is a good place to think.
And I had a minor, well, major for me, minor for others, epiphany. I started to think about the doctor I was waiting to see, and how I had to put my illness on hold until he got there with a remedy to fix me up. When he finally did come in, he said, “It’s viral, go home and rest.”
I’m getting to the epiphany. My illness isn’t life threatening. But it did make me start to realize something. Something I guess every Christian is already aware of. That Jesus is the Great Physician with no office hours. He’s available 24/7, with no waiting room. No, I’m not going to say that all I need to do is ask Him for healing and I don’t need my Kleenex box anymore. That wasn’t the epiphany. But rather, that He’s always here.
When I pray to Him for healing, or for anything for that matter, once my prayer is finished, I used to walk away knowing He has it and will deal with it accordingly. And for some strange reason, once the prayer is finished, I have this silly idea, that He’s tucked away somewhere with the prayer.
But He isn’t. He hasn’t gone anywhere. He hasn’t gone to file my request somewhere and deal with it before the Father when it’s time. No. He’s still very much right here. Right with me. The prayer is finished. But He isn’t. He never leaves my side. I don’t have to sit in a waiting room until I can see Him. He’s here. Right now. With me. Beside me, in front of me, all around me. He never goes anywhere. Even when my prayer is finished, He’s still here.
I don’t know why that struck me so hard, like a major light bulb in my head. I’ve been a Christian for years, and I know He’s with me. But I guess I never focused on the fact that HE’S WITH ME. He never goes away.
This Great Physician, which of course, is only one aspect of Who He Is, is alive and well and my constant companion.
It took a flu bug in the doctor’s office to make that truth real to me.
I guess I could have asked the watch. . . . .
Hebrews 13:6: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Thank you Jesus.
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