Waiting....Patiently....is that an oxymoron?

Has the Lord ever just given you a glimpse? Have you ever just read His book, and see a glimpse of what He is doing in you or will do in you, or in a loved one, or in your family.

Have you ever just read Ephesians 6:1
"children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right." and seen it as a possibility?
I mean not just as some obscure thing, some intangible, unattainable thing, but seen it in a glimpse. What life in your home will look like as they start to get it down pat?

It's easy to get glimpses when looking at a crawler, when you've had a couple kids already. You don't know how your baby will walk; will they strut, or pound feet forward, will they tip toe about (some babies do you know) or will they just look intoxicated for a few months, leaving you utterly stressed about corners and edges of things. But you can get a glimpse of what life will be like when that season comes. Have you ever been blessed by the Lord with of glimpse of what He has in store for you? Maybe you're engaged to be married, or moving to a new home, or maybe you are at a store and found a beautiful vase, and you can just envision what it will look like filled with posies, and daisies and snapdragons galore!

It's happened to me, on several occasions. The glimpses I mean. Once when the Lord was laying it upon my heart to homeschool. I really didn't think that I would want to do anything so crazy as that! (ha ha) But as I would read His word, how we should teach them as we walk with them along the way, when we rise in the morning and all that, (Deuteronomy 6:4-11) the Lord would give me glimpses of what it could look like. They would linger in my mind, and every scripture verse I would read would relate. Every sermon on the radio, my devotional, my husband all would color in the picture of the glimpse. They have since materialized, and while the glimpse was lovely, the reality is wonderful, and so very challenging, but so wonderful. And quite frankly a while in the waiting to see it come about.

The Lord is doing that in me again, giving me glimpses of what it (our home life) could look like. And of coarse its beautiful, but it looks so hard, so impossible, so far far away.

In fact, have you ever been at your doctor's office early? (Follow my quirkyness with this....)
Well, but he or she is running late, so your waiting, and waiting and waiting some more. It's almost 2 hours now, can you imagine your frustration? But wait, LOVE is PATIENT, (1cor 13) you remind yourself, and we should have "JOY in all things" , didn't pastor preach on that recently ?
You are not comfortable in that office chair, and maybe the person next to you is coughing a lot, (which stresses you out) and they smell too. But "God is great, and Jesus suffered so much for me, and think of all those Christians being persecuted", you just got you VOM and GFA updates, so you feel utterly convicted ! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (which would include, you decide, enduring the odor permeating from the person next to you, and a not so comfy chair) You begin to ponder how you're a bit wimpy in your faith, you need to be stronger in the Lord. You feel cheered and start practicing that piece of scripture you've been trying to memorize, but no! There it's gone! Wiped from you mind as a lady (who only came in 45 minutes ago), gets to go in to see the Doctor before YOU! You can feel your face flush with anger (lets call the sin a sin, you are officially coveting her position. YOU want to go in NOW! How dare she not wait in this room a full 2 hours next to smelly man!)
Again Convicted by the awesome and powerful Counselor and you repent. Yes, you decide she must be a critical case, that God is still sovereign, and that it was His design that she get ahead of you in this strange waiting place. Yes, infact you begin to pray to God for the lady, because it might be "the worst" for her. Oh, and what if she doesn't know Jesus you wonder..... Oh no! You check your purse, you rummage thoroughly, and sure enough, you've run out of bible tracts! Well, again, you soothe yourself with the fact that God is sovereign, and you pray diligently for her salvation, and the salvation of her whole family. You maybe feel a bit nice about yourself now, it's not everyday that you spend so much time praying to God about strangers, and you decide to make a practice of it. It will really stretch you. And then you wait.
Yes you are still waiting, and you look at your clock. You feel rebuked, because while you thought you'd spent so much time in prayer, really it was only about 7 minutes. Hmmm, you start praying for the doctor, you really think he must be having a bad day... Then you realize so are YOU !
Again you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit that you are indeed being selfish again, you repent and begin to pray for the smelly man, and for the doctor to have wisdom on how to treat the smelly man, you wonder if his prescription plan will allow him to take the medicine the doctor would write a prescription for, you begin praying that the Lord would work all this out, He knows, you don't. And you wait.
Or maybe you just don't people watch, or think at doctor's offices, but only read the magazines.

Either way hope you get what I am saying. Sometimes we think we are waiting on a Doctor, or a toll booth operator, or a boss, or a husband, or even for a child to be born. Sometimes we think we are just waiting for the children to "get it" but really, we are waiting on the LORD. Because God is sovereign. So when you are waiting in the checkout line and the person behind the register is slow as molasses, and you wait, and wait and wait some more, are you waiting as unto the LORD? How do you wait? Patiently, kindly, joyfully? I think of Hannah, and God Almighty gave her a glimpse, and she clung to it. Her situation looked impossible, it must have felt so. Or think of Sarah, she actually laughed !

Sometimes the Lord will give us of glimpse of who we are to be in Him, or a glimpse of one of our children or maybe even our husband. Instead of being thankful for the glimpse, that we might pray wisely, and work diligently as instruments in the hands of our Redeemer, we want it NOW. We become irritated (like at the checkout or the doctors). We are a fast people, we want our food fast, our gas fast (pay at the pump) we want our news fast, our cars fast, our everything fast and NOW, "yesterday would be nice". We do not begin to comprehend the "waiting on the Lord" that scripture means. I am to wait on the Lord. Joyfully, thankfully, working diligently, trusting in God's promises, with at least as much faith as a mustard seed. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done.

What are you waiting for? Salvation for a loved one? To become pregnant? For that Love to cleave to? A job for your husband? A cure to an illness God is allowing you to suffer though? Can you bless me with one thing that you are truly waiting on God for, that I can join you in prayer over? I want to be more patient, joyful thankful, hopefilled in the wait. Oh that we might ever be keepers of our homes, working diligently as unto our LORD, loving our children, and encouraging one another to love and good works.
YOU ARE LOVED
john 3:16