Waiting Period

From the cradle to the grave, life is a journey through seasons of waiting. From the embryonic age to when a child utters the first cry, a season of waiting has passed for the parents, relations and the child. And as the child embarks on the journey of life, from breast-feeding to crawling; taking the first unsteady steps to running; acquiring education to getting certified; searching for a job to getting employed; and seeking a life partner to getting married, the child passes through various seasons of waiting. And the list is endless. Of course, until one answers the final call, the last stage of the waiting season.

Based on personal experience(s), I have long come to the conclusion that how one handles or copes with the waiting seasons of their life has a major impact on the quality of life they live. I have realised that when we allow fear, anxiety and negative thoughts to rule our waiting seasons, chances are that our life can be ruined beyond repair. But when approach the seasons with a positive mindset, the wait can be bearable and surmountable.

I can recall vividly how excited I was when I learnt of my admission to study accounting in the state university, I was elated, grateful and a little nervous. However, I had to face a gruesome ordeal in my first year that taught me a great deal of patience while waiting.

We had just concluded the first semester examinations and embarked on a short break, two weeks I think, before we would return for the second semester. On this particular day, while cleaning the house, I was overwhelmed by an ominous feeling. I stood in my tracks for momentary eternity, lost in thought. I didn’t know my mum was watching me until she called out, seeking to know what was wrong. Her voice rescued me from my moody reverie, and I told her how unsettled I felt. After staring at me for a while, she advised me to pray and shake the feeling off, emphasising that there was nothing God could not resolve in the life of a believer. Her words were soothing, like a bam, but I didn’t take her advice.

There was no way I could have fathomed that my feeling that morning was a premonition of what was to come. God was speaking to me but I lacked the presence of mind to understand, let alone appreciate the import of the message. A short while later, I received a call from a friend and coursemate. She informed me that our results had just been released and advised that I rushed to the campus to check mine.

There is a popular saying that he who the gods want to destroy, they first make him deaf. My mum urged me to stay home if I didn’t feel like going out that day, especially given my earlier feeling. Stubbornly, I didn’t listen to her. The desire to see my result took the better of me. It was my first result, I was more worried about my scores than whatever bad feeling I had earlier.

I rushed out and boarded a commercial motorcycle which sped me to school. About ten minutes into the journey my body suddenly felt light, I was mid-air. The next moment, I had hit the tarred road, landing heavily with my back. Everything happened so fast, a vehicle had rammed into us and fled. My eyes were heavy but I could see the blood all over, the pains were excruciating and I was hurting at every joint in my body. I was nauseous and slowly lost consciousness.

I came to in a private hospital. At first, the doctor’s voice calling my name sounded so faintly, and then increased gradually until it became loud enough and I struggled to answer.

“Where does it hurt most, my daughter?” the doctor asked.

“All over my body, Sir,” I managed to reply.

“Can you raise both hands?” he inquired.

I raised my hands, the left easier than the right in which I felt some sharp pain. He checked it out and asked me to raise my legs. I was only able to raise the left leg. I couldn’t move the right at all. In fact, the attempt to raise it caused me so much pain that I didn’t know when I cried out. The doctor immediately ordered that an x-ray should be carried out on the leg.

It was while I was being taken for the x-ray that my dad explained what had happened in detail. The driver didn’t as much as stop to see the damage he had caused. Instead, he had fled. Because the accident happened close to our school gate, students who were close by rushed me to a nearby private hospital. As luck would have it, the doctor in charge of the hospital is an acquaintance of my family, so he easily recognised me. He was the one who called my dad with the bad news. I also learnt that the young man who was riding the motorcycle sustained only minor injuries.

The x-ray had to be done at a different location. The journey to and fro was another lesson in pain and endurance for me. The road was full of deep potholes and it was as if the car was dancing to a soundless music as it entered or tried to dodge the holes. The jarring pains that came with each of the car’s romance with the holes forced me to release periodic streams of expletives. Though in pain, I pitied my dad. I could see the pain in his eyes each time he threw a glance at me. I knew his helplessness in reducing my pain was choking him. He said “sorry” more times than I could count. I kept assuring him not to worry but I knew he worried more each time I begged him not to.

Finally, we were at the recommended lab. Carrying me inside was another trying moment for me. The process came with much pain. Eventually, the x-ray was performed. The result? Wait for it. The leg had broken in three places. My dad had hoped and prayed that it would be a mere dislocation. But there we were, with a broken leg, in three places! I didn’t know how to react to the news. My dad too seemed transfixed. He couldn’t utter even a word. We looked at each other as the tears dropped from our eyes, as if triggered by a uniform command. We knew instinctively that the lab technician was offering us encouraging words but we didn’t hear or feel his words.

The journey back to the hospital was done in utmost silence. My dad and I were simply buried in our thoughts, perhaps drawing an unseen strength from the silence. We still encountered the potholes but somehow, I gave them no further attention.

Back to the hospital, the doctor studied the x-ray from end to end before reading the result. He then heaved a deep sigh and gently referred us to an orthopaedic surgeon. He told us that being a General Practitioner, he would not be able to handle my case. Again, I had to be moved, the pain in my leg worsening.

At the orthopaedic hospital, the consultant discussed all the available options with us. In the end, we settled for the resetting of the bones using the Plaster of Paris, POP.

Lying in that hospital day in, day out, I knew I was encountering a major waiting season in my life. Recovery was a battle in its entirety. Sometimes I would be so frustrated at my being helpless that I was tempted to curse everything in sight. But at such moments, a glance at my Holy Bible placed strategically on my bed would take my mind to some of the verses and calm would return to me.

At other times, I would feel like a bird that had been caged. I am by nature, a boisterous, out-door person. I hate idleness. I had never imagined that I could be tied down to a small space, not able to do anything by or for myself, let alone think of helping others. But I fought the melancholy which I felt was creeping upon me. I played a lot of soul lifting praise and worship songs. And at that point, a dear friend got me a book, The purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. The book was a highly inspirational read, and it had an amazing impact on my life during that waiting season of mine.

Gradually, I transitioned from the POP cast to using crutches. Then, step by step, I learnt to use my right leg again. I paid rapt attention to the instructions of the doctor and the therapist, knowing that in their words laid the passport to my walking again. They were among the instruments that God used to restore life to my leg. At every stage of that season of waiting, I looked up to God, I kept my trust in Him alive and he stood by me every step of the way.

When I encounter a hard situation in life I try today, I try to see it as another season of waiting. Yes, waiting on the Lord, who always appears at the nick of time. Each time I encounter a difficult situation in life, I remind myself that if I was able to walk again after that accident because God was there for me, then I need not fear anything because nothing is impossible to God. Whatever phase of waiting you’ve found yourself today, I encourage you to develop the right attitude towards it. See it as it is, a waiting season from which you can draw strength and knowledge. Be confident that you are an overcomer and you will surely overcome.