Patience

    Waiting is no fun. In our family we are waiting for the birth of our third child.We've been waiting and looking forward to this for so many months and now it could happen any day. We had a little false alarm on Monday and it had us all on edge. This is going to happen...and soon! But all that excitement just made the waiting a little bit harder when the contractions faded away again. When is our little daughter going to arrive? When are we going to hear her little voice? When are we going to see her beautiful face and feel the brush of her soft baby skin? And so we wait and we pray and we entrust ourselves to God's timing.
    Waiting just isn't easy to do. Every experience...even the waiting experiences...are good for us. God uses them to grow us and teach us patience. He reminds us that it's his time-table...not ours. He doesn't want us to worry and stress out because our plan isn't going as we planned or our timing isn't going as we've timed it. He's going to work all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28) and that promise extends also to when things happen.
    I was reminded again recently of that beautiful serenity prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. What an excellent prayer. What valuable gifts to ask our Father to give us. What a great reminder for ourselves every time we pray it.
     As we continue waiting for our daughter to arrive, we'll pray that prayer and relax and leave the timing in God's hands. Soon enough, when the time is right our amazing blessing will arrive. As I work on writing my book and experience the ups and downs of following that passion, I'll continue to pray that prayer. As I continue my life's journey with all its twists and turns, its mountains and valleys, its sweet joys and moments of pain and heartbreak, its successes and setbacks, I'll continue to pray that prayer and rejoice in the gifts God has given. Afterall, no matter what happens, the reality remains that I am a child of God by his grace, that I have a perfect Savior who's life, death and coming to life again have ransomed me forever. Now each day I can live in that fresh confidence, even if today God wants me to be patient and wait on his timing.