Tuesday Testament: Patience

Patience

     When you ask God for patience, do you know how he gives you patience? He tests it. There are a thousand ways that God tests my patience. Kids, slow drivers, waiting forever in the grocery store, having to explain my point several times to a person.

     Sometimes, I think that I'm crazy for asking for patience. Usually, I think that in the must of an incredibly trying time.

     What I should do is remember Hebrews 10:36. Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

     We also have to remember that raising our children in a calm, loving, Christian environment is God's will. There are trying times when it would be easiest to just tell them to sit down and shut up. But because these lovely children are gifts from God, we don't. We need to show them the love of Christ through the way we handle them even when they are being trying on purpose. When we lose patience with or children (who hasn't been there?), we can turn to Psalm 127:3. Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.


     My biggest test is probably my children. 99% of the time, they are angels. They do what their told, they use their manners and most importantly, they don't pick on each other. But that one percent. Wow. I never knew that 1% could seem to take sooooooo long. Did you know that 1% of a week isn't even 2 hours? It's about 101 minutes. That means that, on average, my kids try my patience for less than 15 minutes a day. Doesn't seem like much when you put it that way. Maybe putting out problems in perspective is a great way to handle them.

     Lastly, (and this verse is great for so many different instances) I'd like to leave you with Jeremiah 29:11. "I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Tuesday Testament: Let Go and Let God

     A lot of people do religious posts on Sunday as this is traditionally the day that we reserve for worship. I am going to break with that tradition and make my religious posts on Tuesdays.

     Today's theme:

Let go and Let God!

     Too often, we let our worries and cares pile up because we try to deal with them ourselves. Many of our problems are bigger than we can deal with. Psalm 55:22 (NIV) says: "Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you." 

     Sometimes, we think that our problems are too big for God. Did we ever stop to think that if we gave the problem to God in the beginning, then it may not get that big? Or, some of our problems seem to small for God. You may think, "God doesn't need to be bothered with this, there are other people with real problems." But, if we give it God, he will help us through it. Now, this isn't a give this to God and it'll be all better. We don't always get the answers that we want or get them when we want them. God is a parent, He gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. 

     I attended a Bible study where we listened to Priscilla Shirer, in cases like these, she points to Hebrews 12:2: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." If we turn to Jesus, and let our worries be the worry of a higher power, how freeing would that be?

     In an attempt to worry less (which is hard for me, I am a worrier), my Sunday school class made "Prayer Jars". My teacher found glass jars with a small opening (so that you can't get the paper back out) at Hobby Lobby. We then decorated the jars with scrapbook paper and stickers. Lastly, I wrote verses on mine. Things to remember when I was really stressing. The ones I used are 1 Peter 5:7, Philippians 4:13, Philippians 4:8, Matt 7:7, Matt 6:25-34 and Jeremiah 29: 11-14. I'm not going to type them here, but I hope that you will take a minute to look them up. Here is the front and back sides of my prayer jar. You can decorate as much, or as little, as you want. I hope that you'll take some time this week and make a prayer jar. If you don't want to go spend money, an old canning jar and a sharpie would work just fine.

        

     And I'll leave you with this one last verse. Matthew 6:34 says "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."