Hello again friends! Happy summer! Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine and showers that summer always brings! For me, this summer looks very different from what I've grown to expect summer to look like. This summer I am away from home for the majority of the summer living with a family from my church that I love dearly! I talked about their story in my last blog post. I'm now moved in and settling into the routine of the family and enjoying every minute of it! But already, in 2 short days of living here, God has exposed a huge character flaw in my heart.... my impatience. Now, impatience is something quite familiar to me as several of my family members struggle with being patient but it's never something I would have said that I struggle with. I would've said that I was quite patient (in comparison to my family members) however... compared to Christ, I am so impatient and am grateful that He's starting to work on my heart in this area of struggle. How has God exposed this struggle you may ask? Well, let me share!
The first exposure of the struggle came last week when I was at a week long conference with my school's Christian fellowship learning about the "Unpredictable Mercy" of God! What an amazing week it was. By Wednesday though, I was emotionally wrecked but it wasn't until Friday that I realized why. I wanted everyone in my life to change... to be perfect. And I wanted it at that very second. When I realized this, everything became clear and my view changed. It opened my eye to my impatience and gave me eyes to see it more clearly in my life. Which leads to where God has exposed my impatience most drastically... the boys I've been babysitting the past few days and will be babysitting on and off for the rest of the summer. I've found myself getting quite short with them quickly and forgetting to extend them grace and mercy... especially considering all the change and chaos that they've been enduring these past 6 weeks. I want them to behave, to obey, and to entertain themselves for hours on end... HA! I know! So silly and unrealistic! I also think about the ladies I disciple on campus and how frustrated I get with them when they're unwilling to change or are so blind to sin in their life when it's so obvious! I forget so easily that change is such a slow process and it takes a long time to identify sin in life, repent, seek counsel on how to change, and begin to change! It takes a lot of time, energy, and patience to change and become more Christ-like.
So how have I begun to work on this? Well... I've started with the boys. When I find myself starting to get frustrated with them, I remind myself that they are only children and that it's going to take time for them to learn especially with all the change and chaos they've been enduring over the past few weeks. God is so patient with me in my unwillingness to change, my rebellion, and my disobedience. Because He has extended that patience, grace, and mercy to me in the midst of my sinful life, I have the freedom to extend it to others because of Christ's atoning sacrifice. I can strive to be more like Christ in my interactions with others by showing them patience in speech and actions. Will it be easy, not at all. It's so hard... but Galatians 5:22 says that one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience so therefore the Holy Spirit is patient and because Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside them, we embody these characteristics to show Christ's love to those around us. How awesome is that!? In addition to that, reminding myself of the following scripture during moments of impatience can help me combat Satan's temptations to be impatient:
"Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." (Ecc. 7:8)
"You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." (James 5:8)
"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Any one of those are great for combatting Satan when he chooses to tempt us through impatience. So friends, join me in this battle against impatience and let's show the world Christ though our patience with each other and those around us!
~Dani
**Friends, will you also please keep the family I'm staying with in your prayers as they continue to try and balance time at the NICU with time at home and their daughter fights every minute for her life. Thank you!**
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