"Patience My Child"

I am a very driven person (Trust me, I don’t say this prideful in any way. After a year of self reflection, this is the one thing I know about myself). I believe in part from sports and part how God made me. I always have had to do far and above more work than most others to just get my foot in the door. You may tend to think that driven = energetic. Well it doesn’t. I'm not one of those spunky personality types that never seem to tire. Actually, I'm quite opposite. I can sleep at the drop of a hat. When I wanted to take a good solid undisturbed nap in college I would head to the dollar theater and off I went, 2 minutes in I was already drooling. I remember falling asleep once at Gino's East (my favorite pizza in the whole world) with a group of friends, my head flat on the table. Who does that? In addition to my sleeping, I can actually be quite lazy at times. (No comments needed from my sisters on this!) Regardless, my point is that nothing has ever come easy. If I received anything, trust me, a lot of discipline and training went in to get whatever it was. I worked really hard for all that I got.

You can imagine now that I have Jesus in my life what that must feel like. It's all I can do to not want to go spread the gospel to the ends of the world. I want to rid all evil out of my community and beyond. I want to plow through all the darkness and truly create a united community. I want to live boldly and get beyond topical approaches to truly help transform this world. I want to do all I physically can for Him. To that I am really thankful for Saul/Paul. He too was passionate, driven and disciplined. He too lived a life of misguided passion. But, he turned it around to do great things for the Gospel. He transformed this misguided passion to be a man of great heart and wisdom. His life gives me hope.

With all of that I wanted to share a story with you. A tiny story that is no bigger than the piece of dirt under my nail right now that is probably from gathering fall decorations out in the woods 2 days ago (yuck, I know!) Yes, it seemed at the time to be small. You see a couple weeks ago my heart was very heavy that I wasn't doing enough for Christ. I cried several times that week because I felt so trapped in "life". I want to share today how God can take the tiniest act in your life and turn it into a life lesson. A few months back I volunteered to work at the back to school party that our church holds for our community. As a volunteer I was handed a t-shirt to wear that was to be returned, after washed of course. In getting busy with life that t-shirt laid in the laundry basket for a week or so until I received a friendly reminder via Facebook that the shirts were needed back. After I washed it, I folded and laid it on the counter right beside the door. My point in laying it there was to take it to the church the next time I left the house. Yea, right! You can't miss the shirt, bright lime green and next to door. However, weeks passed and the shirt still lay on the counter. Weeks! One day as Mollie and I were gathering our stuff to head to Seymour something inside me told me to pick that shirt up and throw it in my purse. I really wasn't planning to head in the direction of the church but decided to listen and threw it in just in case I had extra time. As we get out of the car to go into the library that same voice told me to take my purse. “Why?” I said to myself. I don't need it and I'll just have to either drag it around or walk off and leave it as I play with Mollie. But, I grabbed it anyway. A few minutes into our visit I noticed Melanie, my friend and leader at the church who incidentally was the one needing the shirt. We talked for a bit and then that same voice said, "Give her the shirt." It was quite odd really. After I handed her the shirt she said, "You just happen to carry this around in your purse?" I still chuckle when I see her expression on her face as I pulled it out. I’m sure it was the last thing she expected. That my friends is the story of this blog. Pointless? Yes, I thought so to. However, time and time again that story keeps popping up in my walk with Christ. It has been THE strong hold for allowing God to work in my life instead of forcing life myself. That tiny little story taught me a lot about how God works and how I must be patient.

 1.  He prepares us (whether it’s just washing a shirt and setting it on the counter),
 2.  He lines up the way (even when we have no clue that he’s at work),
 3.  In His timing it all works out perfectly for His glory.

"Patience my child, I'm just preparing you" is His voice in my soul. So often God gives me just a snippet of what’s to come just to prepare me but I want to take it and run as fast as I can and to do as much as I can with it. For my driven personality, it’s not all about that. My lesson is to have patience and let God work his magic. It's amazing that when you do have faith through patience and when that day comes – the day where everything works out perfect for Him- how more special and amazing those experiences are. You really SEE and FEEL his love. I have been able to sell my car, furnish my family's closet with clothes and to witness my husband's baptism by stopping to reflect on this tiny story.  Nothing compares to his presence in your life.