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.

Obedience

From ages 5 to 8 I was molested by a family friend.  I NEVER told anyone…including my husband.  I was at a women’s conference and God spoke to me telling me that He was going to use this part of my testimony. My first job?  To tell my mom.  I remember taking her to Golden Corral for a coke and just blurting it out…..she just sat there and looked at me.  Then she said “that explains a lot.”  That’s it??  That’s all I get?  But for her, that’s all that needed to be said.  It explained to her why I had been a depressed teen.  It explained why I ended up pregnant at 17.  It explained to her why when she asked me one time “what would make you happy!?”  I looked at her and honestly said “I don’t know.” I didn’t know.  I had no idea.  I had so much anger and guilt built up within me I didn’t even know where to start.
Well, from that day on, God began to use this part of me.  I spoke at a ladies’ convention and had a seventy something year old lady come up to me and tell me that her dad had molested her and she had never told anyone until then!  Can you imagine how in awe I felt that God could use something so bad for His good???  Then I spoke on forgiveness at our youth group and used this as my example. I was scared to death they were going to laugh or poke fun at me for what had happened.  I had 12 kids come forward that night!  I told them “I would go through it all again to know that I could help you guys.” I meant that.  I have learned that once I took the step God told me to take….once I obeyed and began to LET HIM use this, it was all turned around for good.  What is He telling you to do right now?  What are you not obeying?  What is holding you back? Fear? Guilt? Don’t let the enemy steal anything more from you.  Obey God and watch Him work!