Continuing in Patience

I always find myself wondering what where to begin when I write. Yet I have come to realize more and more that writing can be much like speaking. The Lord said never to worry about what to say(Jer. 1:5-10). So, writing is the same as speaking, only with no audible voice to hear. I speak the way I write: I just start. I actually never write with any particular subject agenda. Everytime my pen touches the paper and my fingers hit the keys, I never really know what I'm going to write. However, now that I've warmed up, I believe the subject is, again, patience. I feel like I have more to say about it, as I do not think I have covered this subject thoroughly. You see, my life has been nothing but a test of patience. Come to think of it, seventeen years is not a long time, so I am expecting more tests of patience. I am already in the midst of a few tests already. God teaches in very mysterious, yet approptriate ways. Having said that, here's an example. You never really know what God is doing until it is done. When I was a freshman in high school, God called my family away from my home church of fourteen years to help my former youth pastor start his own. I won't tell the complete story now, but God had us on that task for nine months. when God moved us back to our home church, we saw that while we were away the church had taken a sort of spiritual backslide. Had we been in attendence, my family and I, as well as the families who came with us, would have stopped in our advancement down the straight and narrow. The church wasn't "dead," per se, but the presence of the Lord was not as prevalent in that place as He was nine months prior. So, upon our return, we reasoned that God had pulled us away not to start a new movement, but to protect and grow us so that we may one day be a major part of the forward movement of that church. Yet none of this would have been possoble without patience. In this fast-paced and hurried age, we forget what real patience. Patience is not waiting in line at a fast-food resturant for ten minutes without getting angry, or tolerating a yonger sibling who does not know how to complete a simple task. In fact, true patience is not just waiting. True enough, the Word tells us to wait on the Lord (Psalms 46:10, Isaiah 40:31). Yet, it does not tell us to be completely inactive. We must continue in dilligent prayer, fasting, and seeking. Otherwise,we will fulfil Jesus' end-time prophecy. Our love for Him will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). Most people do ddecide to sit around and wait. It'sas if to say, "Ok God, I'm gonna sit here and wait for you to do something!" We wait for Him to slap us in the face. While we wait for Him to do this, we ourselves fall asleep! It is then that God may decide to give us a slap in the face, in order to wake us. Then, we realize our wrong we were and how we fell asleep in the first place! Patience is active waiting. When the Word tells us to "Be still," it is not saying to literally be still. While to many this is obvious, to most it is not. "Being still" means waiting o the Lord while still trying to "press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). In short, Chrisianity is a verb, and patience is an element of its action.