Yes, you’re here again! Thanks for showing up. So in my meditation time, which is usually my bathroom time. If you’re a mama bear with a full house, you know my story. And sometimes even that sacred time is interrupted by the calls and cries of the ‘littles’ that depend on you and who seem to have the insane need to make sure you are tirelessly occupied on their behalf at every waking moment.
I digress- lately, you and I have been exploring how God has indeed deposited some grand dreams into our hearts and I’ve been encouraging you to persevere and endure through the obstacles that seem to come spinning destructively into the path of those dreams.
So have you heard of ‘Impatience’? I have! I believe that impatience and I are twins stuck at the hip. I do not like to wait for anything, and I think it’s mostly because I struggle to cope with the anxiety that builds up when you have to wait on something. You know that feeling of anticipation, worry, excitement, hesitancy, reluctance, enthusiasm, all of it rolled into a big knot that penetrates your mind and heart all at the same time. You know the feeling! It’s like when you try baking the perfect cake FOR THE FIRST TIME, or when you know you waffled during that interview, but you sold yourself the best you could to get that position- and you really want that job, or when you’re about to become a mom for the first time, and you seem to be ever so sloooooooowwwly approaching that due date. We have all been in spaces where we have had to wait on someone or something to come to be in our lives.
I stumbled across this quote one day: ‘Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep the right attitude while waiting,’’ and I love it for 2 main reasons.
The first: I am known to pray and request things of my Saviour all of the time, and by the time I open my eyes I expect to see it laid out in front of me… Wala! Anyone else pray like this?
But this is what we do, we pray with expectation, and that’s fine, but God’s time is not our time. I had to learn that ‘patience’ is not a tangible thing I can possess- but an ability or skill if you would, that I can refine. So one day I stopped asking God to ‘give me patience‘ and started praying that HE would ‘teach me to ‘be patient’.
”But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8: 25 TLB
The second reason is, since being patient is something that Jesus teaches us through His Holy Spirit, patience is about our state of mind and heart during times of waiting. Do we have the right attitude? Are we open to the lessons that are being taught during our waiting? Are we receptive and obedient to God’s command to wait? Are we hoping and trusting that all is well while we wait and that God is always working on our behalf? Are we praising and thanking God for what HE has already done and perfected as it concerns us, our dreams, our future? These questions ensure that we are demonstrating patience as we wait on God to lead us into all HE has already established for us.
There are times when we allow impatience to poison our hearts and choke our dreams, because things aren’t moving quick enough for us, or we don’t see the winds of favour and success blowing in our direction yet. We get tired of the waiting, we let the spirit of doubt and despair take over and we throw in the towel. We quit, we give up and then we spiral into discontentment and ungratefulness (we talked about this last week- click here to catch up).
”Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal. 6:9 NIV
I want to tell you a little secret that I discovered. God does not wear a watch manufactured by man. HE wears a watch manufactured by GOD. Also, He does not see our lives the way we do. HE sees the beginning, the middle and the end, all at one time. Trust me, HE’s got you. It is coming! But there are things we cannot see (again because He doesn’t wear lenses crafted by Specsavers), that is always happening in the spiritual. Things that are preparing us, growing in us, strengthening us positioning us for the greatness we are pushing towards. Complications come with premature blessings.
We could not talk about patience without mentioning my good friend David. David was given a glimpse of his royal future long before any of it ever came to fruition. I mean the amount of evading, hiding and near-death experiences he’s had, for sure, if it was me, I would have given up trying to achieve that dream. However, the trials and troubles David survived is part of the reason David’s faith in God was so strong. He learned that God always had his back even in the bleakest of circumstances.
Let’s not forget Joseph, THE DREAMER who went from the pit to prison to the palace…. eventually! ( You can read his story in Genesis 37- 50) Clearly Joseph had a peek into his future and his purpose, but his chances quickly went south after being sold into slavery and abandoned by his own brothers. Joseph never lost hope. He kept his faith alive, because he knew what God had shown him and he believed in it. Everything that happened in Joseph’s life was a step towards his greater purpose. Tough, but God knew that he was the right man for the job. HE gave him the grit from the very beginning.
”For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalms 139:13
Abraham and Sarah. Waiting on God for a child. Abraham had to wait an awfully long time, and I imagine that he wondered what was going on, if God had forgotten him somehow, especially after the promises HE made to him about fathering generations. However God’s promises are firm and certain.
”And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised,” Hebrews 6:15
Again, don’t let impatience steal your dreams. Don’t let it smother your faith! God does not lie. HE has His own agenda and everyone of us is a priority on His book. Ask God to teach you to be patient, to give you an open and receptive heart to everything that is to gain in your waiting period. Pray for the right attitude and give Him thanks for making you His priority.
Look at Joseph’s example and be effective during your wait. Joseph’s attitude to trust God, to believe and share his faith and his God in every circumstance is what took him forward on his dream path. Each ‘pit’ he landed in somehow propelled him closer to the next step. Remember your purpose is in the NOW, not only in the later or at the end.
There is purpose in the waiting seasons of life as well, so kick impatience to the curb.
I challenge you to allow the dreams to mature to full term before they are birthed.
BE patient.
For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised. Hebrews 10:36 AMP
Purpose Driven Mama 