Hello friends.
I have been here and there and mostly everywhere. I have not been exercising. I have cussed a lot ( especially over the weekend ) and today I actually got out of bed at 7 ( not so good when you have to be at work by 8).. It's a little silly ya know.?! I say I want to accomplish things, I say that with God I can. What am I learning from these failed experiences? This. We are human. We will fail. It does not mean that we can't keep trying. I will keep trying, I will keep praying about it and know that God is working. I still feel like He is being very quiet, very still. I on the other hand am the exact opposite. I can't stop scouring the internet for new jobs, for mission trips to go on. I can't stop thinking and at times feel unable to start just living. I went home yesterday and told John all my worries.. He listened, he gave me his opinions, he said I need to change my attitude. I feel sometimes that my attitude changes me .. and it does. I allow negative, useless thoughts to overtake me and essentially drown out the quiet, firm, unchanging voice of God. He is there always reassuring me that there is a plan I know nothing about, yet... but I am not going to mess this up.. I may stumble.. and believe me I do.. but I am going to learn patience by all means. That is what John is convinced God is trying to teach me through this experience. I told John that I have never been patient in my life and that I am tired of waiting to learn how to be patient. He laughed. I about cried. It's like there is an internal clock inside of my gut, right below my heart, ticking and tocking, ticking and tocking and as I try and quiet it.. it grows louder. A reminder that I am still not sure what to do and time just keeps on passing me by. But God has a reason for patience, for stillness, for calm. I wasn't sure what it was but the bible was a great clarifier...
Col. 3:12
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Gal. 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
1 Col. 1:10-12
10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[a] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Ok ok.. I could go on.. literally forever .. about how God wants us to be patient.. he requires it.. maybe I'm wrong though. Could it be that patience is a gift. Is it a gift that comes as fruit beared, as a sign that we are right with Him? That we are fruitful? That we understand, trust, and are continuing in our Lord by faith?
Yes. I think it is a confidence. A trust that even though you are in turbulent waters your GOD will calm them. or maybe He won't... maybe He will just calm you (which He has countless times) But either way, He is using you. I can always be confident that my life is worthy to Him. If it doesn't work out the way I plan, if I don't live in the place I feel I can thrive.. I CAN trust that if I am submitting myself to Jesus.. then He will use me.
Patience is Peace God gives as we wait to see where He will bring us. Patience is the Grace God extends when we try to make decisions on our own and then realize we don't even know what we are doing. Patience is the Faith we choose as we hold on to what His word says and what His spirit is doing and what we know is true. Patience is here, Patience is now.. waiting for us to clothe ourselves within it's softness, it's harmony, it's magnificent truth -bearing, character building, trust and faith testing.. gentle, loving arms.
The Message translation of 1 Peter 1:3-11 is an excellent capturing of the essence of what it means to have patience, not to own it or possess it, but to trust it, to bear it, to regard it and to respect it. Patience is something in today's world that is far out of reach for some, but for those of us who know Jesus.. it is right in front of us waiting for our overdue embrace...
3-4 Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
5-9 So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
10-11 So, friends, confirm God's invitation to you, his choice of you. Don't put it off; do it now. Do this, and you'll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.
with love and peace .. ( and patience to you all )
H
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You know the old joke, "Better watch out for what you pray for, especially when you pray for patience!"? Well, it's true. The only way to learn patience is to go through times that are often long and arduous. It's a choice to accept God's grace while He's holding you in His hand and working behind the scenes for your benefit, or to be a whirlwind of unproductive activity trying to control things on your own. Been there, done that.
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