My husband lost his job on Friday. Not a good way to start the weekend. My first reaction was to freak out and worry about every. single. little thing. Why do I do that? Thank God for my husband though, the patient one. Always trusting God will work everything out for the good. Why wouldn’t he think that? The Bible promises us that! Just check out Romans 8:28. So why is it my tendency to freak out? Where’s my patience? Oh how I long for a heart full of patience.
I really enjoy searching the scriptures on my Bible app. I can type in a word or partial phrase and most times it knows what I’m talking about and finds what I was looking for. So I was thinking about patience and decided to search for verses about it. (The Bible actually has a lot to say about patience, it’s even one of the fruits of the spirit!) The verse that stuck out the most to me though was Romans 12:12. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (NIV) Patient in affliction. Ouch that stung a little. Affliction is something that causes pain or suffering. Really? I need to be patient in that? Come on, doesn’t God know what I’m going through? Doesn’t he see how hurt I am? How does he expect me to stay patient when things feel like they are falling apart? Oh sure, I can be patient in easy things like waiting for cookies to cool off when they are fresh out of the oven, or waiting for my clothes to dry when it feels like they’ve been in the dryer for hours, even being stopped at a red light when I’d rather be home – see the easy things. Things that don’t matter at all, I’m all in! But patient in affliction?! Not so much. I want it to hurry up and go away!
Maybe you’re like my husband and you are patient, then I’m sorry this post hasn’t really been for you. But if you’re anything like me you’re probably wondering how then do we stay patient in affliction? Especially because you probably want to be. I know I do! I don’t want to be sitting around worrying about every single thing! Well, I think the next part of that verse answers that for us. “Faithful in prayer.” I think if we stay faithful in prayer that will calm our anxious hearts and get our eyes to be focused on Jesus and not our problems and therefore help us to be patient. The Bible is God’s love letter to me. My owner’s manual. God created you and me. He knows best how we work and function better than we ever will! So if the word says to be patient in affliction, then I need to be patient in affliction by being faithful in prayer. 💛 May the Lord fill your heart with patience today!
Blessing 💛 Sarah
In Between The Ashes 