Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
I don't know about you, but patience is a virtue I constantly have to cultivate. It doesn't grow naturally, so if I want it to thrive, I have to spend a lot of time nurturing it by putting it into practice.
God calls us to be people of patience—to wait on his timing and trust him to be in control. Yet in this world of instant gratification, we have forgotten how to wait. We grow impatient or frustrated and decide to take matters into our own hands. And we tend to make a muck of things in the process.
2 Peter 3 tells us that God's sense of time is very different from our own, and even though it may feel like he has abandoned us, in reality, he is not slow in keeping his promise. He is simply patient, desiring what is best for us and willing to wait for the optimal time to bring us to that point. So can you wait for a month? A year? Ten years, for God to fulfill a promise?
God promised Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Yet after ten years of waiting, Abraham and Sarah were still childless. Ten years is a long time, don't you think? I don't blame them for getting impatient. However, that impatience led them to take matters into their own hands. Sarah sent Hagar in to her husband, and Abraham did nothing to turn the woman away. Ishmael was born, and one has only to look at the ongoing strife between the spiritual descendants of Ishmael (Muslims) and the spiritual descendants of Isaac (Jews and Christians) to see the long-reaching consequences of that mistake. Thirteen years after Ishmael's birth, the Lord renewed his promise to Abraham and Sarah, but both of them laughed, sure that if God hadn't given them a child by then, he wasn't going to. Their bodies were ancient after all. A year later, when Abraham was 100 years old and his wife was 90, Isaac was born. You and I (along with Abraham and Sarah) might consider 24 years a long time to wait, but God's timing was perfect. Our Lord is trustworthy.
Patience is a fruit of the spirit we must foster in our hearts. And God will help us. When trials come, he will give us endurance. When we grow frustrated and take things into our own hands, even then our merciful Lord will find a way to work things out for our good if we grant him control over our lives once again and trust him to lead us.
In my latest novel, Head in the Clouds, my heroine, Adelaide struggles with these very issues. She is a woman of faith, a woman of prayer. However, when God seems to turn a deaf ear to her petitions, she grows impatient and ends up creating quite a mess for herself. It is only when she learns to wait on the Lord that things begin to turn around. She still must endure serious trials along the way, but her trust in God grows. And with that trust and newfound patience come blessings richer than she ever imagined.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
~Lamentations 3:25~
Wow! Thank you Karen for that great devotional! Really makes you think if you just take the time and read it. READERS-Karen has offered to give one of my readers a copy of her new book, Head in the Clouds. To enter the giveaway, the MANDATORY ENTRY is to leave me a comment telling me if you have ever had a time like Adelaide, where you are impatient and in the meantime, make a mess of things. I know we all have had times like this, but maybe give a story where this happened to you.
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4.Tweet this giveaway. Can be done 3 times a day.
5.Enter any other of my giveaways. Get one entry for each you enter.
This giveaway will end 10/27. Winner will be chosen through Random.org. They will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be chosen.
37 comments:
Times when I was impatient? Most certainly. One that comes to mind was wanting to have children. Even though I know God's timing is perfect, I so struggled with this at times.
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Impatience..something I struggle with often.
littleone AT shaw DOT ca
Nice blog and well managed :)
Finding a job or staying home. Waiting for the answer and in the meantime taking a job that frustrates me and my family!
jacque
I was impatient waiting for my soulmate. Once I was content to be an "old maid school teacher", God brought him into my life a couple of months later. It's all in HIS timing:)
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haha, yes I have had that experience! :) I'm pretty sure everyone has!
Kim
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I follow your blog via GFC
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I appreciated Karen's wise comments about waiting on God. I am in a waiting time now, trying to sell my house (I can no longer afford the mortgage)and determine where God wants me to go from here. It's awfully hard just to wait but I really want to do what God wants and not rush ahead and make mistakes.
I'd love to win "Head in the Clouds."
Thanks.
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would love to read karen's latest novel...thanks for the chance :)
karenk
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i have learned...the hard way...that impatience gets you in touble :)
karenk
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I have had many time of making a mess when not waiting on God. Starting College I had a hard time and wasted a semester because I was not listening to God on what he wanted me to do.
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My husband and I like to fix everything. If there is a family problem, we try to fix it. We don't like strife and discord. Unfortunately in our impatience to wait on others to help resolve problems, the problems seem to have gotten bigger. Would love to win this devotional!
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I can't think of any time right off. I tend to procrastinate with God having to prod me along.
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I am a follower of this blog.
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I tend to be impatient in a lot of areas!
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