Relief to Joyful Expectation

7/21/11 Relief----my favorite emotion.

Lament with me awhile but await the hope of relief through God's mercy.

Selected verses from Lamentations 33:

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.

39 Why should the living complain......

40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,

56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”

58 You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.

I love what Steven Curtis Chapman said, "when our loved ones die they are a greater part of our future than they are of our past!" What a blessing and a relief to know that the grave is not the end of the story.
Trusting the Lord with not only relief but a renewed and joyful expectation knowing that He labors on my behalf to birth a new and greater grace from my grief.

Patience with hope

8/12/09
Admittedly, this “patience” lesson has been tough for me. Tough because of the reality of impatience in my life along with my short-sightedness.
I need to address, at least mentally, the long term spiritual results of learning in the midst of a circumstance rather than just trying to short-cut it for the sake of relief.

Have I ever admitted that relief is probably at the top of my “favorite emotions” list? It is. It’s because the dread, suffering, etc. is over and “my” list is checked off or my ducks are back in a row----usually short-lived because another situation is probably lurking around the next corner. But RELIEF does feel good for the moment! I envision eternity as one long sigh of relief.

I am so pitiful that:
…..losing “anything” in my “black hole” of a purse, no matter how many pockets Vera Bradley sews in, feels like a major tragedy in the universe………..
…..Driving to work at least an hour ahead of actual check-in time and catching a red light has my blood pressure up and sometimes I try to hurry thru that yellow light…………
…..even a fax machine being busy or not responding as I try to reach Wage Works for the umpteenth time can feel like life or death.
Stress, Melt-down, Come apart--all inappropriate—all come to mind.
Silly, I know, but that’s the way this time compulsive person manifest a deeper issue than lack of patience. (Maybe "time-compulsive" is a euphemism for wretched.)
The world’s definition of patience according to Mr. Webster is calm endurance. God’s definition is more encompassing. I even have trouble with the world’s description, so I try to circumvent the problems or people who make patience difficult for me. That my friends is not God’s way.
What’s the long term goal of the situation/problem that is causing my reactions rather than a godly response? Learning to endure a trying time, or becoming capable of bearing delay might sound like the right answers but they are MY way----trying to meet MY need in MY strength. Maybe, just maybe they’ll offer ME relief. NOT! At least, not for long.

The long term goal is spiritual maturity---a display of the fruit of the Spirit in my life. How is that done?
Quit trying to practice patience in your own strength but open His word and “practice His Presence.”
Is that your final answer, Dotsy?
Yes, because it’s the right answer. It’s God’s answer.


Larry proofed and suggested I put my journal jottings at the end of the blog, not in the middle---just to reinforce the lessons the Lord has taught me in my patience journey, which has taken a lot of steps forward and backwards and is still in progress.
Journal Jottings----just to give you a peek at all the thoughts, some painful, about my life lessons and struggles with patience.
May 30, 1999 from a Sunday School class taught by Dick Winter.

Notes on DW’s CHART

1.Typical ways---circumventing, rationalizing and faking it
2. God’s answer—Examine God’s word, Phil. 2:1, James 1 :2-3, Embrace His plan, Psa. 27:4, Experience the exchanged life, Isa. 40:31, Lam. 3:25
3. Therefore…(sounds like, "but God"……with Him the response is…)

• Accept all people. (especially difficult ones)

• Give expectations to God and grace to others!

• Invest in others’ lives—(even those “irregular” ones)

God move me from #1 my reactions, my way to #3, His loving response, His way!
Galatians 5:3 By faith we eagerly await, though the Spirit, the righteousness for which we hope.
Long term goal----His righteousness.

(Streams in the Desert, July 26)
He hath made waiting beautiful and patience divine.
That’s definitely a divine viewpoint, not a world’s view.
I want to get beyond just tolerating or coping with a situation just to get by it or forestall/avoid confrontation. When I allow God to meet me where I am and to teach me, that’s “waiting with hope.” The situation or person may not change or go away but He will teach me His response in the middle of it.

There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for His people to publically profess Him and then not use Him. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Streams in the Desert, 8-12)
USE HIM in this area of patience, Dotsy.
Exchange my weakness for His strength.