I can assure you when it came to finding a new job with a flexible schedule and benefits I was not practicing patience.
I needed a job that contributed nicely with my husband’s income; it seemed like a tall order because we all know when we have kids and we want to be involved in their schooling our schedule is limited.
God found a way to give me more time with the kids, while earning an income!
There have been many times in my adult life that I have trusted God and without fail, he gave me what I needed.
It may not have been exactly what I wanted but everything I needed. There was no difference here, by trusting God through the process I was able to stay clam (not freak out like I would have done in the past) and truly know that God would provide.
I never know how or when God will provide (which always humbles me and my controlling personality) but I knew it would happen.
Practicing patience can be hard, here are some tips to help guide you through being patient in any season.
For my controlling friends (like myself) this will be hard…
1. Practice patience by giving up control, give up the image you have of how something should be and trust that it will be okay. In order to do this we ha
ve to spend time with God. (CLICK HERE to learn why spending time with God is so important). God has a plan for your life it is your job to be still and know that God is leading you even if it doesn’t look the way you thought it would. How many times must we think we know best? Because God is in control he will lead you the best way. Just sit back and let it happen. From my experience, when you lean on your own understanding it usually ends up disastrous. Take this new job, I thought I wanted to be the one in charge (which meant longer hours and more pay). I thought I could be on board with that.
What really happened…
I found that the position I had originally wanted (the one where I was in charge of everything) really wasn’t for me after all. I got an interview with the same company for a position that wasn’t even on my radar; still with benefits, flexibility and a live-able income. I had to give up the image of what I thought I wanted in order to be able to see what God truly wanted. Sometimes we see the big picture but have a hard time staying patient with the small steps God instructs us to do. Author Lisa Bevere’s book “Out Of Control And Loving It: Giving God Complete Control of Your Life” talks about this very concept of giving up the ideas we have of how things should be and living as God intended. Click the link for your copy of Out Of Control And Loving It: Giving God Complete Control of Your Life
2. Practice patience with prayer. (fill in the sing up form to get my master your prayer routine freebie) Don’t let those negative thoughts get a hold of you they will bring you down; instead push that thought out and pray. Get your scripture memorization cards out (I use mine all the time) and when you are waiting at the doctors, standing in line or thinking about how things will work out use the cards to guide you and ease your mind. “With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the spirit…” Ephesians 6:18
3. Practice patience to know that trials make you stronger. You will begin to realize the situation isn’t going to last forever and that it is a trial that is making you stronger. The faster you understand that this is happening for a reason the faster you will start trusting that it is God’s plan for you. From now on when you go through a hard time trust that it is God’s plan for you. “Consider it all Joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let that endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” James 1:2-4. Whenever I hit a trial I pray my way through it. Prayer may be the last thing you think of in the midst of a trail, but it should be the first, find out how by signing up for: MASTER YOUR DAILY PRAYER ROUTINES (fill out the form below)
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