{"id":1692,"date":"2016-06-25T11:22:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-25T15:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=1692"},"modified":"2016-06-25T12:03:23","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T16:03:23","slug":"i-waited-patiently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=1692","title":{"rendered":"“I Waited Patiently…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"waiting_is_not_easy_large\"<\/a>I was thinking about Psalm 40 this morning. If you take out the word “patiently” — I feel like these verses are my testimony:<\/p>\n

I waited patiently for the Lord;
\nhe turned to me and heard my cry.
\nHe lifted me out of the slimy pit,
\nout of the mud and mire;
\nhe set my feet on a rock
\nand gave me a firm place to stand.
\nHe put a new song in my mouth,
\na hymn of praise to our God.
\nMany will see and fear
\nand put their trust in the Lord.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve been struck recently by how many times a friend will say they admire my patience — when I know that I’m not feeling even a little bit patient! They are so, so wrong!<\/p>\n

But the fact is? Sometimes you have to wait — whether you’re patient or impatient doesn’t change that one little bit. So outsiders seeing you waiting — might think you’re being patient.<\/p>\n

Now, I learned early as a Christian — never pray for patience! Because how does God build patience in you? We’d just love it if he would zap us with patience — make us instantly patient! (LOL) But the way to build patience in us — is to make us wait, to put us through long, excruciating trials. No matter how impatient we are, we will still have to wait — and maybe we’ll learn that impatience doesn’t speed things up one little bit.<\/p>\n

Something that’s taken me longer to learn? When you’re tempted to pray for patience, pray instead to enjoy the moment.<\/strong> You’re going to have to wait — might as well enjoy it.<\/p>\n

In this way I bring my knitting to long, boring meetings — a wonderful chance to knit! (And I listen better, honest!) I bring books to read on airplane flights — a chance to read! I listen to audiobooks during my commute — again, a chance to read!<\/p>\n

When my kids were little and their antics tried my patience — well, now that they’re not little at all, I treasure that time in my mind. Lord, give me the grace to find the treasures in this moment.<\/p>\n

Now, some things are much, much, much harder. I think of the things people told me I was waiting patiently about when I simply wasn’t<\/em> — a 27-day headache, or waiting more than a year<\/em> for them to fill a position that I so wanted, or other decisions I’ve had to wait for. Even in those times, how can I enjoy this moment?<\/p>\n

With a headache, it’s a reminder of God’s grace just to get through the day. (That’s a start, anyway, a humble attempt to find something<\/em> that redeems the moment.) When waiting for a decision about a big potential change, it’s a reminder to treasure the present moment before the change, to remember how much I love about where I’ve been.<\/p>\n

That brings me back to Psalm 40. When I think of being in a slimy pit, I think of the years when my marriage was falling and had fallen apart. Make no mistake about it, it was a horrible time. I waited, but it was not very patiently.<\/p>\n

I thought<\/em> I was waiting for God to bring my husband back and restore our marriage. Turns out, I was waiting for God to heal my heart and bring me into a new phase of life and teach me that God is my rock — and set my feet on that rock and give me a firm place to stand.<\/p>\n

And you know what? No matter how patient or impatient I am, that process takes time. God had a lot of work to do in my heart, and he couldn’t just zap me with those new qualities. He couldn’t just zap me with a knowledge of his faithfulness — He had to show me over time.<\/p>\n

Now? I think I’m waiting for God to bring a new life partner into my life. I would love it if God would zap a new man into my life. And zap that guy into just the right partner for me.<\/p>\n

But maybe God has something else in mind. And maybe he has work to do in my heart. And maybe he has work to do in that man’s heart. I don’t want someone for the sake of having someone. I’d like God to be involved. I’d like God to do some orchestrating about this one.<\/p>\n

I’m clearly going to have to wait. (Unless, of course, God plans to zap someone into my life today. That would be fine, Lord!) Whether I wait patiently or impatiently won’t speed up the outcome. (Actually, when it’s a matter of the heart, patience might<\/em> speed up the outcome.) <\/p>\n

But my prayer is: How can I enjoy this moment? What is God doing in me now<\/em>, today?<\/p>\n

And how good it is that I can look back on my own<\/em> life and say, “See! God has come through! I can put my trust in the Lord!” That’s something good that came out of all that awful waiting. I wouldn’t trade it, now.<\/p>\n

Here’s to singing that new song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was thinking about Psalm 40 this morning. If you take out the word “patiently” — I feel like these verses are my testimony: I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}