learning to have patience will be worth the wait.

how many times have you prayed for patience not really wanting to go through the difficult situtations that would build this characteristic inside you?

um...me? more than i can count. patience is definitely not my strong suit. whether it's people, technology, potty training my dog...i have to really focus internally when i'm put in  circumstances where patience is needed.

speaking of potty training my baby yorkie, lily. y'all she's the sweetest thing ever! we got her about two months ago and she's the daughter....ahem dog i never had. she's my baby but she commands patience.

my routine in the mornings involves me getting up early. most mornings around 5:30. i take lily outside and then we come back in and i give her food and i get ready. i have my alone time with the Lord in the morning before work. i feel like i'm more prepared for the day when i do this.

one particular morning i was studying my sunday school lesson, on patience no less. and after finishing it, i kid you not, i turned around and lily had pooped on my couch! are you kidding me?? i just took you outside thirty minutes ago. and you couldn't do that out there??? then all of a sudden, the word patience rang like a bell in my head. ugh, i know, i know. i couldn't even put to use the knowledge i'd learned just two seconds earlier to handle a situation with my yorkie, much less handle encounters throughout my day with people i come in contact with.

i stopped and prayed. Lord, put me in situations to learn. teach me how to become slow to speak. and slow to anger.

so i'm choosing  to see situations God puts before me as opportunities for growth. i'm choosing to step back and think before i react to a certain situation. i'm choosing to have realistic expectations of others. i'm choosing to listen in order to acknowledge someone else's feelings. i'm choosing to break my old habits. i'm choosing to become patient.

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16