If Your Heart Needs Courage to Wait

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

{PSALM 27:13-14}

As I sat in the waiting room I felt like a shell of a person. I looked around at the seats full of people and wanted to become invisible. I shrank into my seat. My husband put his hand on my knee. Another soon-to-be mama sat in the chair across from me with her hand resting upon her round belly. Then there were others, like me, staring into empty laps. I wondered about their stories. How many of them were expecting good news? How many came to learn the gender of their baby? How many waited to hear the news they hoped was not true?

A nurse called my name and we made the long walk down a hall into a dark examination room. The only glow to light up the space was an ultrasound monitor. I laid down on the crinkly paper of the exam table while my husband sat beside me holding my hand. The technician moved a wand covered with gel across my belly. We were uncomfortably quiet. My husband squeezed my hand and I gave him that knowing half-smile to reassure him (but more me) that we were going to be okay. We had a black and white view into the unseen space of my womb, but only saw a tiny blob of something shaped like a lima bean—still, with no heartbeat. A radiologist entered to confirm the news: “There are no viable signs of life.”

While I grieved over the weeks and months, I was reminded of the promise God had given me of a new song. “No viable signs of life” is what the witnesses saw when they peered into an empty tomb on the third day after Jesus’s crucifixion. They baffled at the vacated tomb. What they didn’t know yet was they would soon be face to face with the resurrected Jesus himself. I did not know what was ahead, but I was putting my hope in the Author of life. I believed I would look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Exactly one year later, we learned I was pregnant again. This time as we prayed with hands laid over my belly, swelling with life, the word I received was simply “joy.”

Wait

Read the verse for today:  PSALM 27:14 (ESV)

Look up today’s verse. Have a pen and paper ready.

1. Write down the Bible verse.
2. Find the key word and circle it.
3. Look up the definition of the word (notice how it is used in context).
4. If you are reading from a different translation of the Bible, which word is used instead?
5. Underline where you find a promise. Find the heart of this verse and mark it with a heart shape.

(Click here for How to Use a Word Study.)

Meditation

What does this verse reveal about God’s heart? How does this truth refresh your soul? Turn this into your prayer today.

Please leave a comment below to share something that touched you in today’s devotional.

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