Waiting…….

Last Summer

Psalm 37:7
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret.”

Be still~ That is something that I find hard to do.  I can pray while driving, making supper, and while doing other things and spend time reading the Bible each day.  But ‘being still?’ Now that is hard.

Wait patiently~ Wait…………..patiently?  I’ve always thought that all I had to do was wait for an answer from God.  But I need to learn to not only wait, but to also wait patiently, stop ‘nagging’ God, thinking He has forgotten.  I’m trying to learn to pray constantly about whatever it is I am struggling with, knowing that God’s timing is perfect.  This is what a friend told me when I wrote her about what I have been going through…..

“It’s like a story Corrie ten Boom tells. When she was a little girl in the Netherlands, her father went to Amsterdam every week on the train. Sometimes she went with him. He would always hand her her ticket right before they got on the train. In the same way, God gives us the strength we need right when we need it. Never too early and never too late.”

Do not fret~ Ah, that may be the hardest!  I feel like even when I do give something over to God, I am stilling ‘looking over His shoulder.’  Checking to see if He is doing it ‘right.’  Ha!  Like I would ever know!

Waiting can be a form of suffering, and when we suffer, we are, in a small way, suffering as Christ suffered.  Which in turn, draws us closer to Him.

Psalm 27:13-14
“I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord:
Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Subtle reminders….

Lately, I have been dealing with some stress, about school, wondering what God holds in my future, which way I should turn, and many other things that come with growing up and taking on more responsibility. The last few weeks I have been confused about all of these things. And the last couple of days I have kept getting subtle reminders about the same thing: Peace.

Monday, as I was listening to the radio, the dj (I guess that’s what their called?) came on with their ‘words of hope’ for the day, or something like that, and they were:

John 16:33-which is Jesus speaking-
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Then, yesterday as I was reading a book, the author mentioned the same verse. Accident or not?

And, after looking at that verse on BibleGateway.com I clicked on some of the cross references.

John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

Romans 8:37
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

So, I have put my trust in God. And I have to make the decision to trust Him each and every day. Each time fear and worry starts to creep into my mind I have to make a conscious decision to hand that worry over to God. Sometimes it seems easier to try and take care of things myself. But, before long, I get bogged down and can’t seem to find my way out. I start to get lazy and am impatient with my siblings.

I’m learning, and for that I am glad. I feel like my relationship with Jesus is actually going somewhere. And that makes me truly happy.

Mariah