Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Waiting for Patience

Are you struggling with being patient? Do you ask God for patience but ask for it now? The catch is that the only way to obtain patience is by being patient. So that means just waiting, and waiting, and sometimes some more waiting. Unfortunately, patience is something we have to learn and can't just earn it in an instance. Obtaining the virtue of patience feels very painful and very difficult as it usually requires enduring some sort of trial.

Whether we are waiting on our womb to open with pregnancy, a prodigal spouse to return, difficult work situations, loved ones to come to Christ, a marriage healed, improved finances, clean bill of health, or healing from emotional suffering. For whatever we're waiting of significant importance usually it is a hardship to us. (I say of significant importance because I'm not referring to waiting in line or following a slow driver.) The Lord uses hardships because it is in those times that we must really die to ourself and see the importance of waiting on the Lord.

He is never a minute early nor a second late. His timing is impeciable! Unfortunately, it is usually only in hindsight that we can see this so clearly.

I NEVER would have thought myself to be patient. However, after enduring the trial that still surrounds me after ten months, I can say that I have indeed gained some patience. I guess when we suffer such a strike to our life and such a deep tragedy of life, we realize what is important and it really helps to give strength to waiting. We realize to definitely not complain over the petty things in life like: being cut off in traffic; following a driver going 30 in a 55 zone; waiting for someone to find their check book, pen, and ID in the grocery line; whatever causes us to wait. And in the large things like illness, divorce, death, finances, we then just begin to TRUST. Yes, patience so closely ties in with trust. Do we really trust the Father to provide His best and in His timing. If we trust Him for the best in our lives, then shouldn't we also trust that He will provide it in the right timing? And if we truly want His best, are we not willing to wait for His best? That sure motivates me.

How many times have we closed a door because we were too impatient and not willing to wait for the results of God's work? How many times did we open a window that God never intended to be open? We can get ourselves in some very big messes when we try to do things in our own timing and our own way. That is why it is ever so important to Fully Rely On God (FROG). I guess a good "rule" to go by is if you don't know what to do or if you should do anything or not, then just WAIT. Wait until you have that overriding peace that God is saying or showing you "it is NOW time." God always goes before us to prepare the way. However, if we leap ahead of Him, He will not have had the chance to prepare the way. So be careful of leaping!!!

One of my favorite songs that has helped a lot during the trial of my life is "The Waiting" by 4Him. Here are some of the lyrics:

When you're waiting
Through the hard times
Hold on, don't let go
Waiting through the hard times
Will only make you strong, hold on
I cry, you cry,
Life takes us by surprise
Before you know,
It'll catch you unaware
I need, you need,
Much more than sympathy
But through it all it's good to know
We need to know that Jesus is there
And you will never ever have to cry alone

I know there are many verses on waiting. I searched biblegateway.com for "wait" and it resulted in 135 hits. Here are three that I keep close to my heart.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7

The Lord is good to those who wait on Him; to the soul who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25

So what is it that you are willing to give up to wait on the Father, His purpose, and His timing?

Be Blessed in Him,
Paula

11 comments:

Unknown said...

You really touched me today with your post.... It spoked straight to my heart. Waiting is so hard especially when the Lord seems silent at times... I am trying to look at the flip side of my trial and see what the Lord is teaching me.... Mainly I feel him whispering, Let go, let me do the work.... We do serve an almighty God, don't we.... God bless you, kathy

Paula V said...

Thank you, Kathy. You do not know what you have done. The Lord just used you and spoke to me through you. He has continually been saying this week to me "I am using you." Oh how precious it is to be used by God for His glory and His work. I have always had a heart to help others and to be an encourager. For 34 years I've wondered what my spiritual gift(s) is/are. (Well for 13 years as I was saved at 21.)

You are so right about the quiet times. It's been said that in the quiet times, THAT is when He is doing His most work.

I have lyrics to another 4Him song that touches me and sometimes I purposefully listen to it and cry. Sometimes it feels good to break down that wall and cry my heart out to the Lord. It also encourages me that the Lord is there but just may not be where I'm looking.

I'll post those lyrics in the days to come.

Come back!
Paula

Ashley Marie Rinaldi said...

What an inspiring post. I will be praying that God continues to guide and lift you up in His will as you wait on him. I too and in a place of waiting on the Lord's timing, and only by waiting can I begin to understand His purpose for me!!

In Him,
Ashley Marie

Robin Lambright said...

Among the multitude of amazing things I love about God one of them is His ability to connect His people through seemingly random occurrences. I have an accountability group that I meet with every week and it is amazing how often He will use our individual study time to reveal different treasures to each of us through the same scripture. It is not until we all come together to share our week when it washes over us how amazing God is to have connected us to Him and His word through out the week when we did not even realize it. There have even been instances where I will receive a thought or a new insight only to find out that it was really intended for one of my sisters in the group. I love seeing how God is at work in all of our lives.
I am so glad that the parable of the ten virgins hit a spark for you, I love it when God show off how amazing He is.
You asked if I had done a Rachel’s Bible Study, this is a new one on me. I am not familiar with it??????

Roxie said...

WOW! the patience to wait. Isn't it so hard. I've been where you are-separated, mine ended in divorce, but in my waiting I found God to be ever so faithful. I once say a quote on a church sign that said "Patience is trusting God's timing." Just seems that God's timing and mine are never the same-LOL!

My favorite scripture on waiting is "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

My waiting theme has lead me to the following questions? What am I waiting for? Do I have the faith to wait? Why wait? How do I prolong the wait? How long must I wait? and What happens while I wait? And yes God has began to give me the answers to these questions. Just seems that God is much more patient than I am.

Oh and one last thing God has taught me while I wait is to start asking "What are you trying to teach me Lord?" and who am I supposed to share this with.

Praying for you today. Roxie

Roxie said...

WOW! the patience to wait. Isn't it so hard. I've been where you are-separated, mine ended in divorce, but in my waiting I found God to be ever so faithful. I once saw a quote on a church sign that said "Patience is trusting God's timing." Just seems that God's timing and mine are never the same-LOL!

My favorite scripture on waiting is "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 Seem like I always needed renewed strength to deal with the issues of separation and divorce.

One of the things God has taught me while I wait is to start asking "What are you trying to teach me Lord?" and who am I supposed to share this with?

Praying for you today. Roxie

Unknown said...

Paula again God has graced you with words... I read your comments on Rachel's site.. The words that hit home were..."Reconciliation is in God's timing....When he has done the work he needs in me and my love one, HE will join us in his timing".....those words hit home...

I am like you so desperately seeking the Lord, letting him use me, and just trying to be in the center of his will....Life can be a struggle, and I have found the closer I walk with God, the more the enemy tries to get a hold of me. Discouragement, I believe is his biggest tool, and thank the Lord we have his power to combat it.....

I pray for peace in your heart and may you see the many blessings, the Lord has in store for you... Your sister in Christ, kathy

Paula V said...

Kathy (desert rose),
Thank you so much for stopping by again and for showering me with such beautiful compliments and encouragement. I clicked on your name to see if you had a blog as I'd like to get to know you better and be of any help to you. I pray my blog continues to be an encouragement and inspiration for you. Waiting IS one of the very hardest things. We don't want to mess things up by jumping ahead or taking control.

You hit the nail on the head about the more we seek after God, serve Him, desire to be even more intimate with Him and doing His work, the more Satan comes after us. It's a battle for sure but thank God we have the blood of Jesus that covers us. He not only gives us salvation but strength to endure whatever the enemy TRIES to throw at us. Fight him back by drawing even closer to God. I believe when he sees you will NOT waver from your Lord, he will flee. In His Grasp, Paula

Robin Lambright said...

Bless you my sweet sister for having mercy on the aged. I understand about long post though as I tend to have rather lenghty one myself at times.

Robin Lambright said...

In reading your comment to your friend Kathy I noticed you mentioned wondering what your spiritual gifts are. I am the coordinator for our churches prayer ministry and we have used several different Spiritual Gifts Inventories that are very helful. You can find free ones to take on line. It is very interesting and enlightening to take a few and see what yours turn out to be. Just do an interent search for Spiritual Gifts Inventory and you will find many different evaluations that you can take. Most of them are free and only take a few minutes to complete. Just a little FYI if your interested.

Robin Lambright said...

God is so amazing in all He does. I so identify with your words. It blows me away that some folks read my words every day. I often think how could I possibly have any thing relevant that anyone would think was remotely interesting, but with God all thing are possible. It can be overwhelming when these profound revelations wash over you that God is in the process of using little old me for a greater purpose or even a smaller purpose. I have been expressing myself with the written word for a very long time, however it has only been within the last few years that I have begun to feel that God was leading me to something a bit more defined where my writing was concerned. I have been slowly compiling a daily devotional book for a very long time. One day I hope to have enough written to put one together in an actual book. However something else happened to me the other day that I thought would encourage you as well. I sat down to compose a post and then several hours later I found that I had written possibly 15 to 20 pages of a book. You may have gleaned for some of my posts that one of the greatest challenges in my life is the struggle with my rebellious teenager. Well as I sat to work on this post it became very clear that God was directing me to write a book from the normal every day mom’s perspective on how to deal with the conflict and the heartache that come in to your life as well as some practical suggestions on how to cope with the turmoil. I have learned so much from my failures in the area of my life and I have a lot to share on the subject. It was a real eye opener. And the germ of this all started a few months ago when I began posting to my blog. It got me in the habit of thinking about putting something down on paper every day to post to my blog. Well it goes to show ya that God can use any and all vehicles to get His message across, it is just up to us to be tuned in and listening for His message. So you can and will turn that pipe dream into a reality. Just keep your eyes focused on God and listen for what He tells you to write.
It was several years ago when I was on a womens retreat with my church. I was struggling with this call to write, I was uncertain and more that a bit frightened. During the retreat there is always a bit of quiet reflection time. I found a comfortable place and grabbed by bible and just randomly flipped open the pages. My bible fell open to the book of Jeremiah and these words leapt off the page,

JER 30:2 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you

Needless to say after I picked myself up off the floor I wept at how simple it was. Simple a really scary! But since then I have been trying to be obedient and write what He tells me to write and pray that at the appropriate time I will know when I am finished and ready to publish.
So I am not sure if any of this helps, but I wanted to share it with you. So you can claim Jer 30:2for your own life as well.