Two minutes waiting behind another customer at the coffee shop? Too long.
Sixty seconds to heat up food in a microwave? Too long.
Fifteen seconds waiting for the traffic light to change? Way too long!
The bottom line is, no one likes to wait, for anything.
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| My Water Pump (It should all be one piece) |
Recently, God has been teaching me patience. Everything in my life was going smoothly. So smoothly in fact, that I was bored. I wished that something would change, that I could get excited about life again. You know that saying; Be careful what you wish for? Yeah, I learned what that means the hard way. For about two weeks now, I have been faced with many challenges, trials of many kinds, if you will. Though God, in the book of James, says: "Count it joy when you face trials of many kinds, knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience". James 1:2-3. Be happy when when your water pump breaks and your truck quits on the way to school? Be happy when your family struggles to pay their bills? Be happy when the first girl you ever had the guts to ask out says no? Be happy when your dream is taken right out of your own two hands?
Yes.
Being happy when things go right is easy. Being happy when things go badly, not so much. However, happiness is a choice. It's my choice. It's your choice.We can choose to let the trials we face get us down in the dumps, to break us, or we can remember that we aren't really in control. God is. God allowed trials into our life for a reason and He didn't call us to understand why. He called us to be still and know that He is God, to trust Him with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding.
Life is tough.Waiting isn't easy. Thankfully, God didn't leave us on our own to deal with the weight of it all. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us, friends to help us, and a hope that never fades.
"I used to ask God to help me.Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me." -Hudson Taylor
I wrote a song once entitled " I count it all joy".... It was based on my sister Joanne's testimony she gave the last time she visited at frank coopers little man church in n Carolina....Joanne had faced cancer and all the surgeries and trials and pains etc that go with it...yet...she stood up and testified...." Scripture teaches God does not give us more than we can handle...all I can say is that God trusts me a lot more than I trust me to have placed all He has in my life...but I know He has been with me from the start and will be with me through to the end..." .... And ever since I heard that testimony...when I get whining, as I often do, I remind myself that if my sisters can praise and honor God through years of horrendous sickness...well...I can face whatever is on my plate today ... " I count it all joy to praise you, I count it all joy, even through tears of pain, I count it all joy, no matter the earthly cost, I know You will give me heavenly gain...." Amen.
ReplyDeleteYes. Mmm...Yes
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog 😊
ReplyDeleteThanks Aunt Sheila!
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