When You Pray For Patience...

     People of the world, I am learning that when I ask God for patience, He allows me to see just how much I do not know about myself. You know how that can be, right? We tend to think to ourselves that we are pretty much as patient as we can be because "back in the day I used to ____ but I thank God for deliverance". Well, God is loving enough to show us that we do not have it all together, but that He can show us to a greater way: Him. He is Patience [Galatians 5:22]. He does not reveal our imperfections to us to be mean but He longs to guide us as the loving Shepherd that He has proven to be over and over.

     Patience does not mean that you have to have the biggest smile on your face and run through the fields of flowers with no struggle. I had to burst that bubble. Patience is the act of enduring through hardship, or difficulties. What is a gigantic thing to overcome for one person may be feasible for you. In this case, patience feels like a walk in the park with just a few pebbles to kick out of the way. Alright, now take that same situation but now deal with the gigantic issue. Yeah, I know...it does not feel good to even think about it. Someone else is probably thinking that your situation is ridiculous and not worth the effort you're putting forth. The understanding that they do not have is the spiritual effect that this "thing" is having on you. This "thing" is an actual hurdle for you; although not impossible to overcome with God, it resembles a miniature version of the Great Wall of China: it seems like it can both go on forever and is impossible to climb over...or knock down.

     How about that beautiful example of what I endured a few hours ago? As I was preparing to turn into the parking space for our home, a man who just could not wait for me to get out of the way decided to pass me on the left and pull straight ahead into his parking spot. All the while, he was driving and holding a cell phone to his ear. My face ----->   :| Instead of doing what I really wanted to do, which was cut him off by straddling the drive-in, I decided to tap the brakes and let him pass. OH THANK GOD THAT I DID THAT! I'm guessing that you want to know why? When he got out of the car, a piece of me wanted to "give him the business", or in other words, tell him how reckless of a driver he displayed of himself. As he emerged from the car, I turned to face him and let him at least see what I was thinking. (Don't worry because God convicted me quickly about that one, too. Let's just say that I changed my attitude quickly). I then saw him get one of his children out of the backseat of the car. At that moment, my heart dropped as I thought about how I could have cut him off and possibly risked injuring that child that was on that side of the car! Ya'll know how HUGE of a heart I have for children. All I could say was, "Thank You Jesus." Because I chose to let God rule in that situation over my own decision, He saved us all from having to deal with a car accident and a possible injury or death of a child.

    The lesson is that we cannot make situations go faster nor slower to fit into our idea of perfection. We have to endure through many things in life, and rely on God to show us how to overcome them the biblical way. We have to wait on God, allow Him to guide us, and learn how to sit down somewhere and relax. When He shows you what you need to have worked out of your life, please let Him. It is better to be taught now and learn the lesson than to repeat it multiple times and get a worse result each time.


Songs:

• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus / Oh To Be Like Him / Face-to-Face - Judith McAllister

• Healing Stream / We Wait On You - Judith McAllister