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Active Patience

Dear Sisters,
I am not a patient individual by nature. Then, God blessed me with a husband… and five children. In fact, I have begun to write this while nursing my youngest. If I could, I would add a few more activities from my to-do list, but I have a feeling that would only result in incomplete chores and a wailing child. As you can imagine, I have a tremendous need for patience. I sorely wish God would “ding” me on the head and magically change me into a phenomenally long suffering woman. Since God is not the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella, my gut tells me I have been signed up for patience-lessons.

Paul wrote the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If the Spirit resides within me, why am I not good, kind, joyful, and patient at all times? Well, becoming a new creature in Christ resembles a slave being freed from her master who can choose to return to the master and work like a slave again (though the chains are broken), or leave and create a new life. As a new believer, Christ freed the maid from the chains to sin, but He did not place her on a throne, she remains in her world. In other words, as believers, we can now choose to act patiently instead of blowing up in anger, but it is not as if our brains have been completely altered and the only option we have is to be patient. If they had, we would effectively be robots, destroying the reason God created us in the first place.

That brings to mind non-believers patiently loving their own children. Surely the church does not hold the monopoly on virtue. Non-believers can be gentle, peaceful, and kind. The difference between the world’s virtue and the church’s is the goal. Christ admonishes us to love others. A worldly individual chooses to act in accordance with God’s law, or to love others in order to gain for themselves—whether to gain admiration from others or to avoid punishment, their goal is selfish. A believer’s actions should be motivated by the desire to love and follow Christ.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Gal. 5:1. This seemed to me to be self-explanatory—who would want to walk back into jail after having been freed? But then I realized that I do have a tendency to return to a prison of rules—because they are familiar and it is easy to point, full of pride, to their ‘refinement’ in my life. I often surround myself and my family with inflexible rules—the right way to do laundry, what to eat, when to rest, the correct way to address others. If those rules are not followed, you can see the impatience seething within me. “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Gal. 5:7. Jesus didn’t suffer and die to free me only to enslave me to another set of rules that become the focus—the idol. He freed me so I could be absorbed searching after God’s heart. “Faith working through love” is Jesus’ goal for us (Gal. 5:6).

It is important to note that Christ’s mandate is not to feel love, but to work, to act in love. In the same way, patience is an action, not a feeling. My husband said he thought I am incredibly patient. I looked at him as if he had two heads. Me? Are you talking to the same person that feels like ants are crawling under her skin when for the 100th time I have to remind one of our children to do something correctly? I know I am going to feel the ‘ants’ of impatience, but I don’t have to follow their leading. If I am running by the Spirit, producing fruit, there is no time or room for the deeds of the flesh.

Running with you,
Rebecca

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Patiently Waiting

My dear sister,

“I want it now!” is what I find myself saying to God tonight as I selfishly and impatiently relay to God all the reasons why I should have this thing that has become so important to me. “I don’t want to wait until Thursday. I don’t want to wait for more wisdom. I know what I want and I want it now!”

At times I find myself pondering the thought that God might be looking down at me and laughing at the predicaments I get myself into and the impatience that I typically respond to those circumstances with. I have also noticed how often in God’s Providence the topic for which I am about to write is the very thing that is testing my faith! All that to say; How gracious it is of God to allow me to be struggling with patience this month as I sit here writing this to you!

Are you going through a particularly difficult time in your life? Has the Lord responded to your prayers simply by saying, “Wait.”? Are you struggling to be patient through this time of uncertainty? If yes, then I am right there with you. Waiting on the Lord is hard and being told to wait may even be worse than a flat out no. Having to trust the Lord through the in between times is not terribly fun. It’s actually really hard.

I was at my aunt’s house about to babysit my cousins on Saturday night. Before my aunt and uncle left my 4 year old cousin was repeatedly asking for a cookie in a less than pleasant voice. “You have to stop whining if you want a cookie, ” my uncle said. “I’m not whining!” my little cousin whined in response.

Wow. Do I sure feel like my little cousin this week. I know what I want and I think that everyone else should cater to my desire and give it to me now. How selfish! And how immature! I’m acting like a four year old! Even more than being selfish, my attitude tells God that I’m the one who knows what’s best for me and that I should be the one calling the shots. Could I be anymore arrogant?

Remembering the events of last night regarding my own personal situation, I realized that I said some things to a dear friend that I should not have said. I think, “If I had only been patient I would not have acted so selfishly!” But unfortunately I let my desire overtake my reason and instead of waiting upon the Lord to bring about the final results in His timing and in His way I took matters into my own hands. What a mistake that was, dear one.

Romans 5 has been my companion through these last few days. It says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Are you going through a trial right now, dear one? Has the Lord told you to wait when you don’t want to wait? Remember this verse. God is working in you and teaching you things now that will be for your good and to your advantage in the future. Remember that Romans 5 is true and that we will need endurance, character, and hope no matter what the Lord calls us to or what circumstances He puts us in. Trust and be encouraged by the truth of Romans 8:28 that the Lord does indeed work all things for the good of those who love Him.

I know what you’re going through right now is difficult and I know that you don’t want to be here very long but you need to wait. You need to, as the psalmist entreats us, ‘be still and know that I am God.” Pray for patience and pray for peace. The Lord will grant you both and remember ‘not one good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly’ (Psalm 84:11) God has our best interests at heart no matter how the circumstances may appear. Trust Him to bring the rainbow through the rain.

Under His wing,

Kayla

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Muddles and Puddles

My dearest sister,

I am well aware of your love for Christ and for your desire to serve Him wholeheartedly. The love for His saints and the passion for His word are abundant and overflowing from your heart. I am writing to encourage you in your waiting upon the Lord as you seek to know His will in the matter of your service to Him.

Our Father in heaven has given us a glimpse of His heart when He has said in His word that “the testing of your (our) faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work (full effect), that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3)

So often sister you and I have spoken of how we longed for that patient spirit that waits with the comfort of our hope which is in Christ. We have spoken of how easy it seems for us to hope in Christ for our eternity yet to lose sight of that hope in the muddles and puddles of our daily life. We become impatient. God sees and knows our hearts (way better than we do) and He longs to change them; testing the genuineness of our faith is one of those ways. He promises us there will be growth and the fruit will be patience. The exciting thing is that it is like multiplication! When patience is born within our hearts it begins it’s perfect work (maturity) and multiplies bringing forth completeness. This completeness or as the ESV calls it “lacking in nothing” suggests to me that our hearts become full. Much like our stomachs do when we have eaten a seven course meal. We become full to the point of declaring “I couldn’t eat one more bite!”

Something I know is that God’s purpose for redeeming those who are His is to change (transform) them into the image of His Son, our precious Savior. (Romans 8:29)) That Truth coupled with knowing that God is patient (Jeremiah 15:15, Romans 15:5) His Son is patient (II Thessalonians 3:5) and His Spirit is patient, leads me to believe that even if I cannot muster patience from my soul, I can call out to Him who is the giver of all good gifts( James 1:17) and humbly beseech Him to grant me a portion of His patience. Our King is a good King who longs to hear His children and to give them their heart’s desire when that desire is in accordance with His will. Serving the Most High King is His will (being a compassionate helper, a keeper of the home, raising godly children, teaching younger women to love their husbands……and more) as you move to be a doer of His word in those muddles and puddles of your life, He will prepare you (grow you, complete you) to serve Him in the fashion that He deems best.

So, I will close my letter to you my dear sister with this: I am praying for your heart to desire what God desires, to be a doer of His Holy Word which will prepare you for whatever and whenever He calls you out in service to Him even if it stops at the muddles and puddles of life, and that He will find you faithful (full and complete) because your patience has had its perfect work.

Much Love and Admiration,
Susan

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Divine Patience

My dear sister,

My husband and I have spent over a year and thousands of
dollars toward adopting a child from Russia. Last week we found out
that Putin’s pen has sadistically slammed the doors to all Russian
orphanages for Americans. Only those with a court date before
January 1 can finish the process to receive their wanted child. My
heart breaks for the families that have seen and held their
expected child yet will never bring them home. My heart also fills
with anger toward the pride and selfishness of a leader that cares
more about proving a political point than providing placement for
his own country’s precious children. How can the Lord let this happen?

Patience is an attribute of God that we sometimes overlook.
Psalm 145:8 says, “the Lord is compassionate and slow to anger”.
What does that mean? I read in Arthur Pink’s Attributes
of God, that the patience of God is the power of control
that God puts on himself so he can bear with the wicked in waiting
to give them their just punishment. Wow! How quickly do we demand
justice and punishment of wrong done to others or us? I would
honestly not grieve the loss of Putin if he was struck down
tonight. I want our State Department to give harsh sanction to
Russia so they can feel a bit of the pain that my heart bleeds
after this. But if I think about it, all sin is ultimately against
God. That means that all the sin and evil in the world deserves His
wrath…now! Yet he continues to exercise his patience by withholding
this righteous wrath. More than that…he also gives us mercy and
grace while he is giving us this divine patience! I can’t imagine
doing that!

To hold back righteous justice AND simultaneously
giving the same convict grace and mercy. Yet this is what our Lord
does! He did not punish Putin when he signed that law. He does not
necessarily kill the men who persecute Christians when they land
the final blow. He is very aware of all the injustices in this
world, from being persecuted at work for your faith to children
being left to die because they are not the correct gender. Yet He
is patient with His wrath. But trust sweet sister that vengeance is
the Lord’s. Justice will be given in the next life if not this one.
Trust the Lord with the injustices in your life. He sees them and
knows them. He desires all men to come to repentance which is why
he exercises his patience in giving all mankind a chance to hear
the gospel. I’m convicted to pray for Putin…that his eyes will be
opened to the gospel and his life will be changed. May the Lord’s
patience allow Putin to find grace and give it to his own people.
God has been so patient with you, dear sister. Who has treated you
unjustly in your own life that you can exercise this same patience,
yes even to pray that they will repent and see the glory of Christ
for the forgiveness of their sins from our patient God?

Your Sister,
Colleen

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Clinging to the Giver

Dear sister,

I see that you struggle with the topic of prosperity, as do I. It is a delicate issue for many, as likely you connect your worth to your prosperity, as many do. Thank you for giving me the chance to talk with you on this subject, as we learn and grow together. Nothing brings me more joy than growing and building relationships with dear sisters like you.

I remember a conversation we had several months ago, in which you told me of your desire to sell all you have and move to Africa. I have thought in depth about your comments, which remind me of similar sentiments I had around my departure from college. I thought it would honor God to sell my car and all my belongings and move to Africa as well. To do what? I wasn’t sure. But it seemed like a reasonable desire. Certainly, if God has called you to this, I would encourage you to embrace the call fully. But not all, not many, are called to this type of service. Many are called to live and work, have children, or not, but to live in this world, and rub shoulders with those whose every-day struggles keep them from God. They need to hear God’s call into the kingdom, and for many, this is closely tied with their views on money, possessions, and power. That threesome, it is deadly, when channeled towards ungodly gain.

You have the opportunity to share God’s truths on this topic, as you continue to wrestle through the implications yourself. Something my beloved husband has taught me on this topic is that money in and of itself is not evil. Similarly, it is not wrong to work hard and receive material reward for that service. I have the privilege of seeing him live out this hard-work ethic every day. God tells us in Proverbs 14:23 that, “There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.” Of course our Father, God, would not inspire these words if He did not intend them for our good. From 1 Timothy 6:17, we read, “Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.” This is the essence of what I want to encourage you with: money and possessions are not evil; it is when our hearts love them more than our Savior that they become evil. God our Father gives good gifts, He delights to do so! (James 1:17)

Enjoy the gifts your Father has showered on you, and remember as I struggle to remind myself, that there is even more joy in sharing these gifts, than there is in hoarding them to ourselves. Acts 20:35: “In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

You are a beautiful woman, and I’m so thankful for my relationship with you. Take these words, test them with your own knowledge of Scripture, and keep only what is true. They are my offering of all that God has taught me and I hope they will bless not only you, but also all those with which you live and work, love and play, cry and eat. Truly, our Father loves us and delights to show us mercy. Let us cling to the Giver, more than the gifts.

Blessings to you dear sister,

Ruth