Book Review – The Waiting Room

A few months ago I stood with a friend in her kitchen and she handed me a new devotional book called The Waiting Room, by Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage. That book has become a source of encouragement that I didn’t realize I needed.

I’ve heard from many of you about your own experiences with a medical crisis – either your own, or as a care taker of a loved one – so I reached out to the author and told her how much I’d love to share her book with you!

Elizabeth has walked the hard, messy rode of doctors and waiting rooms and has first hand knowledge of the emotional rollercoaster that comes with this journey. She uses her devotional book to graciously show us God’s love, Jesus’ closeness, and the Holy Spirit’s guidance that is available to all who cry out to Him.

Her book is divided into 60 “meditations”. They are short and easy to read – yet full of Biblical truth that always points to Jesus. Elizabeth is honest with her own struggles but doesn’t sit in them. She uses them purely as the vehicle for reminding us of who Jesus is and how he meets us in those struggles. The result being that I wanted to spend more time with Jesus myself after seeing him (and the whole Trinity) displayed through her book.

Her audience is both caregivers and patients… basically anyone in the “waiting room” of a health crisis. This can obviously take many different forms – but regardless of what brought you to the waiting room, we all deal with the same anxieties, fears, and “what-ifs” while we live in that space. And this book takes those painful emotions and difficult circumstances, one at a time, and reminds us how God is at work redeeming them.

Two of her “meditations” that spoke especially to me were: “Prayer Requests: Inviting Community to Pray” and “Normal Grief”. I read the prayer request one at a time when I was feeling guilty for asking others to pray, yet again, for us. Her words reminded me of the importance of letting others into our battles and helped me push away those guilty thoughts.

The one on grief was also appropriately timed – as it helped me name the emotions that seemed so overwhelming – and has played a role in encouraging me to seek out a counselor’s help in processing all these emotions.

One of the things that surprised me about her book was how fully she embraced the 21^st century! At the end of each “meditation” she includes a link to a song you can listen to online that coordinates with the theme of that reading. At the end of her book she includes resources for care givers, a complete song list, and a variety of other resources that could be helpful for her audience. I even found on her website that she has compiled all of these songs onto a Spotify playlist. It’s a thoughtful modern twist to add to a devotion book.

If you or someone you know is in the throws of “the waiting room” I highly recommend this as a resource and source of encouragement to you!

You can order it directly from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2JXLyc0

Or through her website here: https://www.elizabethturnage.com/the-waiting-room

You can also check out her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethreynoldsturnage/

Elizabeth was so sweet to me when I reached out to her and I encourage you to look around her website at other resources she offers as well!

May you be encouraged friends,

m