“The average wait time is 24-28 hours right now,” I overheard the front desk worker tell the couple in front of me. Inwardly I groaned, wishing my relative could have had their medical emergency on a more convenient day (honest but not the nicest thought). 

The hospital Emergency Room is never a place you want to be, but it’s an even worse experience when nearly every seat is taken up by people in pain, who have been waiting for hours. There was tension in the air, patients grumbling, and the workers looked absolutely exhausted.

The long wait

After a lengthy check-in process, I secured us seats and we settled in for a long wait. We’d only been there 30 minutes at this point, and I was already frazzled and frustrated. My prayer was that God would heal my relative so we could leave as quickly as possible.

A few hours later, the patients around us began to grow more vocal. Some of them were crying out for relief from the pain (which I understood). Others were almost trying to stir up a mob-like mentality to push back against “the system.” Honestly, I had very little compassion for these individuals because they seemed to be taking staff away from those that really needed medical attention.

Kindness in the chaos

Amidst all this chaos and frustration, I noticed one of the techs making her rounds in the waiting room. Her kind demeanor was a stark contrast to everyone else. Although her official job was to keep an eye on the vital signs of several patients, she did so much more. As she looked for the patients on her list, other patients would stop her. Sometimes they needed to borrow a phone, other times a blanket. Several times, it was a frail patient needing to use the restroom or someone in severe pain.

She didn’t treat these stops as interruptions. Instead, she took the time and gave them her full attention. Although she helped where she could, they didn’t always like what she had to say. But even when some of the patients grew irritated with her, she still radiated kindness.

A heart-check moment

It was definitely a heart-check moment for me. God showed me the contrast between my grumbling thoughts and her unwavering compassion. But He wasn’t finished with the lesson.

Finally, I had a chance to leave for a few minutes to grab some much-needed food. While scarfing down cheese cubes and chocolate-covered almonds (not a lot of options after the grill shuts down), I noticed the same ER tech walk into the cafeteria. God nudged me to pay for her meal.

Apparently, my stealth skills are lacking because she tracked me down in the hall after I tried to anonymously pay for her food. I told her I just wanted to thank her for the compassion she had continually shown throughout that long afternoon to some difficult patients. She almost had tears in her eyes as she explained she hadn’t eaten anything, nor had a break since 8:30am (at this point it was after 4pm).

The second heart-check

And that was the second heart-check moment. As I walked into the ER waiting room again, it was like God had given me compassion-filled eyes for each person there. And I began to pray for them, instead of grumble about them in my thoughts.

Thankfully we were only there for a little over 8 hours. But I left with a completely different perspective.  

Not only did God give me a glimpse of the many challenges faced by our healthcare workers each day. He also gave me an example I won’t forget anytime soon of what it looks like to show compassion regardless of how you feel. A reminder to always react with compassion simply because the people around you are made in the image of God and loved by Him.

Would I want my relative to experience a medical emergency again . . . no.

But I am thankful that God used a difficult experience to shift my perspective and thought patterns.

It reminds me of this verse in Romans 8:28a: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

Meet Shannon Fox

Where to find her . . .

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Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.

If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.

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If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.