Patience with a Capital P

We are delighted to introduce you to one of our newest monthly contributors, Amanda, from Into the Beautiful Life.  She comes to us with great joy for sharing the Truth and connecting with this generation of young women.

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Did you know that on average it takes someone around five seconds to send a text message?

And around two seconds to send an e-mail message?

It only takes a few seconds to post a status update on Facebook.

We have grown accustomed to things happening FAST, within seconds sometimes!  When an e-mail goes unanswered for a few hours, or someone doesn’t text us right back, we become impatient. 

It seems we are conditioned to need quick results within our lives.

Today I want to look further into something I myself am constantly trying to improve on-patience.  I can’t help but think of Sarah’s story in Genesis.  Sarah and her husband Abraham wanted nothing more than a child of their very own.  God had promised Abraham a son and promised to make him a “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5).  Sarah wanted a child so badly, but felt that she couldn’t have children so she told Abraham to try to have a child with her Egyptian maid, Hagar.  She thought that was the only way she could have a child.  Things didn’t exactly work out the way Sarah had planned.  Hagar and Abraham’s son, Ishmael, was not the son God was speaking of when He promised a child to him.  God was referring to Isaac, whom Sarah wouldn’t have until many years later when she was ninety years old and Abraham was a hundred!  Talk about patience!

Sarah knew that God had made the promise of a son to her, but she was hesitant to believe that at ninety years old, she would give birth to a child.  When Sarah grew impatient and tried to take matters into her own hands, things became a mess between her and Hagar.

Don’t we struggle with this in everyday life?

Many times we become impatient with situations and try to take matters into our own hands, forgetting God’s perfect timing in it all.

Yet throughout Sarah’s story, what was one constant?

God’s faithfulness.

Doesn’t God always fulfill His promises to us? 

 

 

Sarah is an Old Testament example of patience, but what about in everyday life?  Sometimes we’re faced with situations that require small patience, as I call it, such as waiting on your friend to text you back about weekend plans, or waiting on your child to clean their room…and waiting…and waiting!

But then there are times when we need BIG PATIENCE, Like when we’re waiting for test results to come back, waiting to see God’s plan for our life unfold, or waiting for forgiveness from someone.  We’re so used to things happening so quickly nowadays, that we forget to be patient with God.  See, God doesn’t work on our time schedule.  He works on His timeline, which wouldn’t you know always has a funny way of working out to be the best timing.

As a sophomore in college I wanted nothing more than to transfer from the university I was currently at to what I thought was a better choice for me.  I applied to transfer schools and waited…and waited…and waited to hear from them.  Months went by with no answer, no acceptance letter, nothing.  During this time God was working in my life.  I had become close with this girl in my dorm and we were talking about going into the same major.  At this point I still didn’t see what God was doing!  I felt God telling me that it wasn’t the right decision to transfer schools.  I felt Him telling me to wait and be patient.  I got my acceptance letter the next month, but I never transferred.  And that girl from my dorm hall, turned out to be a bridesmaid in my wedding, my best friend, and my sister in Christ.  God told me to be patient, and through that a lifelong friendship blossomed.  A career path was decided.  And a college graduate walked across the stage from a university she ended up loving.

Sometimes God is telling us to be patient for a good reason.  He can see the bigger picture.  God doesn’t have the liberty of texting us right back, so we need prayer as our communication method.  Sometimes He’s telling us to slow it down-because He has a better plan for us in mind.  It takes patience friends…patience.

 Is there an area of life you’re currently waiting on God?

In what ways are you growing  impatient?

How could focusing on prayer change up your waiting experience?

 

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3 thoughts on “Patience with a Capital P”

  1. I’m so glad you chose to be patient and wait on God! He has certainly blessed us with a wonderful friendship out of that experience- and our husbands too! I’m so proud of you for taking this step of faith!

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