Patience? Hummm………

“Patience is a virtue”.  We have all heard this familiar saying.  What does it mean?  Well, by definition, virtue means “an admirable quality” or “a characteristic of particular value”  The Bible tells us that patience is a fruit of the Spirit. HOWEVER…….sometimes all of this is easier said and read than done and lived.  Patience?  Really?  When the kids are screaming and the dogs are barking? When the boss is blaming me and it’s not my fault? When I have to get an assignment in and I have a house to clean and bills to pay and…..well, the list goes on and on.  How about when I am praying for that perfect job and the doors just aren’t opening?  How about when I am sick and praying for a healing and I am just as sick as I was yesterday? Or when I am praying so hard for my marriage to be restored and I don’t see any change in my spouse? All of these are things that people I personally know are going through.

There was a man in the Bible named Abraham.  Now Abraham and his wife wanted a child.  They wanted a child in the worst way.  They had been promised a child by God.  However, when it didn’t happen in their time, they decided to fix it themselves.  So, Abraham got Hagar (his wife’s servant) to bear his child for him.  Hagar has a son and begins to treat Sarah like dirt!  This child was not the promised child.  This child was a result of Abraham’s impatience with God.  We are still feeling the consequences of this act today in the middle East specifically.

Patience must be cultivated and grown.  We are not in nature patient people.  We live in a now society.  If I want information, I go online, Google, and PRESTO!  I have my information.  If I am hungry I go through a drive thru or nuke something in the microwave.  But God’s word says “I waited patiently for the Lord.  He turned to me and  heard my cry”.  Wait.  Be patient.  Know that God is not a man that He should lie.  If Abraham would have just waited and believed in God’s promise, he never would have had the mess he did and his wife would not have been hurt the way she was.  Poor Hagar and Ishmael would not have been turned away and sent out of their home.  When we take things into our own hands, everyone gets hurt.

I know that patience is not easy.  I tend to be a very inpatient person actually and have to remind myself continually to slow down, don’t try to fix it, and let God do His thing.  Hard?  Yup!  Does it work when I do this?  Yup…you better believe it! “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12. Let me encourage you (and myself) to slow down, read the Word of God, pray, and know that God is not limited by time the way we are.  He already knows what He’s doing….just be patient and trust.

Desires of Your Heart…

God’s word tells us that He will give us the desires of our hearts.  This does not mean that every single thing we desire will be given to us.  No, if we read the verses above that verse we will see that the Word tells us “trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness…” THEN He will give you the desires of your heart.  As I mediated on this word, I began to really notice the word cultivate.  (This is, by the way, why God tells us to meditate on His word, not just skim through it out of duty.  Things sink in that way). Cultivate means “to nurture; to grow or tend” If we nurture faithfulness….if we do the things of God, even when everything and every force of hell is against us, then He will do what He says He will. You see, we have no testimony if there is no test.  You will never know He is faithful without a trial.  You will never know He is a deliverer unless you call on Him.  You will never know He is a healer unless you are ill.  We have to go through trials.  This is true.  BUT, if you cultivate your faithfulness and remain true, He WILL give you the desires of your heart.

Last August, I felt that I needed to go back to school. I finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grow up.  I want to be a Christian Psychologist.  I knew that I had to go to a private Christian university to do this.  So, I began my search and then my application process at what is one of the best universities around now; Southeastern University.  I got accepted.  My next step was financial aid.  Got that done with no problems. From the time I began the process to now has been smooth. I even had favor and got my application fee of $200.00 waived!  I have worked my tail off and put in a lot of hours a week in studies.  Top that with working full time, being a mom to 2 teens, a wife, a worship leader, and a youth pastor and you have one busy woman.  But you know what? God gives me endurance.  God gives me enough time to get it all done.  He can after all, hold the sun in place if He needs to. I have not neglected any part of my life, I simply get it done.  School is a desire of my heart and God, seeing my faithfulness for many years, gave it to me.  I have to do my part and work hard, but He set it all in motion.  Awesome!  I just found out today that I have made the dean’s list!  What an amazing accomplishment!  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

What are the desires of your heart?  Have you shown faithfulness?  If you have, keep cultivating it, keep doing good.  He will give you the desires of your heart that line up with His will….

Your Worth!

In my life as a youth pastor’s wife, worship leader, mom, etc. I notice that alot of girls/women don’t realize their worth. This is a problem to me. Why? Because God wants each of us to realize about ourselves what He already knows about us--that we are precious, that He has given each of us unique gifts and that He wants to use us. I know this is a problem because I have lived it. As a teenager I didn’t realize that I was worth anything. I wasn’t raised in church, I didn’t have a good relationship with my parents and I thought I had nothing to offer but a pretty face and my body (thanks to the man who molested me as a child and told me this was all I was!) My desire is that all teenage girls would see themselves as beautiful. That you would find your God-given gifts early and begin to use them. My desire for every woman is that she would see herself as adored, realizing that it’s never too late for God to use you. Know that you have more to offer than what the world indicates to you (your body and sexuality). I have friends who I know have certain gifts that God wants them to use. They either don’t realize it or choose not to use them. The world and what it has to offer looks good. It’s not. Believe me, I have lived both ways and would not go back to what I used to be for anything.

So, how do you find your gifts? I hear this alot. First, examine yourself. What are your strong points? What are your weak points? What moves you--what makes you so mad that if you could, you would change it today, right now? What are your passionate about? Are you passionate about souls being saved? Are you angry when you hear about child abuse or animal abuse? What makes you mad? Let God use that righteous anger for something good--learn to channel it for good. Before you can do any of that though, you have to realize that you are worth alot. You were worth so much that God himself in human form died a cruel death on the cross for you. That’s how much you’re worth. You can’t truly love until you love yourself. You can’t realize the worth of others if you don’t even know the worth of yourself. Don’t let people abuse you, know that you are worth so much more than that. Plant your feet, know you are beautiful, adored, and then let God use you through the gifts He has already given you.