Love is Patient….
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Patience. It is an identifying fruit of the spirit yet one I struggle with. My patience was tested greatly a few weeks ago when I attend a Living Proof Live event with two girlfriends.
It began when the 3.5 hour trip to Jacksonville took 6.5 hours because of Orlando traffic. I was driving my husband’s car — which is a five speed and I am not used to driving a stick. Then there was trying to save 11 seats so the Women’s leadership team from my church could sit with us (and you are not allowed to save seats at LPL events).
After Friday night’s event we went to Applebee’s for dinner. Apparently no one told them Beth Moore was in town and to be expecting an onslaught of hungry women demanding food following 2.5 hours of intense teaching and worship.
Then there was the three hours of sleep with three women in a king size bed. This demanded good coffee the next morning. That is when we quickly discovered no one bothered to tell McDonalds either to prepare for hundreds of women wanting coffee before heading off to be spiritually fed the rest of the morning. As we waited 15 minutes in the drive thru for our order (which, by the way, we were the first car in line), we watched as car after car, church bus after church bus, woman after woman invaded McDonalds. Many of them were like us – tired, in a hurry to get a good seat, hungry and short of patience. Where was the Starbucks??
What a shining example we were! Here we had an opportunity to show just how much fruit of the spirit we had growing in our lives and instead most of us cut the vine and proceeded to act worldly. “What do you mean you ran out of coffee? Its only 6:30 in the morning!”
The world is watching us. Someone was bound to know we were all heading to a Christian event and yet some of us weren’t exactly acting very Christian. It doesn’t matter what trials were placed in our way that caused us to be impatient. God’s word doesn’t give exemptions for bad days. We are called to be God’s ambassadors and witnesses every day, all the time, in the good and the bad – with or without coffee!
Today, let us think about how our actions will make others think of Christ. How will we shine for Him today? We should use every opportunity God places in our path to bear witness of abundant fruit growing daily in our lives.
Lord, I am sorry for the times I have failed you as a witness to others. I know many times I mess up and bad days are no excuse. Thank you for your gentle corrections and help me to be a better example of your Love everyday. Amen.
Thank you for sharing your honest heart, bless you.
Dana…
I have been to 5 LPL events. Enjoyed every one of them, but not without some headaches. What is it about 10,000 women meeting together that requires and tests our patience? Regardless of the arena, my patience wears thin on a regular basis. It seems to be a greater struggle for me as I grow in age. Funny, I am also growing in my spiritual maturity, so one would reason that it wouldn’t be such a big issue.
But it is, so I thank for joining me in the struggle and maybe today, we could both remember that we struggle not alone. That’s the power of your witness for me! Be blessed with an extra measure even now.
peace~elaine
Hey, it’s not just the world watching. I know that my kids could use a lot more love in action through patience. Thanks for drawing a direct line from Love to Patience, as has been done before in I Cor 13. Sometimes it’s hard to get from Point A to Point B, but with God as our Guide, we at least are pointed in the right direction.
Great reminder. Some days, I catch myself…others I’ve walked away thinking…why did I say that? why did I act like that? and immediately asking forgiveness. Glad our Lord is a forgiving one!
Blessings,
Tracy
Dana, First of all I commend you for the fact your friends, after that ordeal, still call you friend… I to struggle with patients. But I want to share an example of how the world does see Christians. A lady I work with is a very loving christian woman. She does have a tendency to go behind others backs and take work from them to benefit herself. After talking with my boss about this, I will not go into specifics over the situation, his comment was ” and she calls herself a Christian”. That made me feel bad because I know she is. I hated to bring this situation to the attention of my boss, but I had to. He could tell how offended I was by his comment and I said no one is a perfect Christian and walked off. The world is watching and they are waiting for Christians to do the wrong thing so they can put us down. Thank you for this devotion today. I do need to work on my patients.
Angela
Thank you for sharing from the heart. I thought I was the only one out there battling patience. I was reminded this morning that
God is the master gardener. He knows what the invasive plants are and how to eradicate them. I have to be willing to give myself fully to His weed pulling work as the gardener. This way He can brilliantly display Himself threw the fruits of the Spirit in me. I am still learning how to give over those weeds and look forward to the day that I see more flowers than weeds in this garden.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:4-7
What truthful thought! How quickly we forget our duties. Thank goodness, I don’t drink coffee. But, that doesn’t mean I have patience. I’ve had my share of “what do you mean?”
God is good.
Thanks for sharing.
Please, enter me.
Love is Patient.
Patience is the Fruit that I so often fail to give to my family. I am aware that I am a witness in my home as well as outside, and it seems weekly if not daily, that I need forgivenesss from my family.
Oh how I want to love on my family with honor!!!
Please ENTER ME
I’m there with you, especially with the loooooooonnnnnngggggg trip to get there.
Thanks for saving seats for us on Friday night.
Seriously, your post hit home because I need to be acting like a Christian even when I don’t feel very Christian. (to borrow from one of my professors in college!!)
Good post kiddo — keep up the good work
I am wondering why we, women especially, really have a had time with patience. I know that this one comes up too in my life. When I look back at some situations, I just shake my head on why I acted the way I did.
Thank you so much for sharing from your heart, Dana. I do hope you still had a fabulous time at the event…
Thanks for the reminder I am to reflect God 24/7
If I had to share a King-size bed with 2 other women, be up and about at 6:30 and no coffee to boot, I don’t know how Christ-like I’d be either. For a restaurant to be out of coffee at that time in the morning reveals a mismanagement of one kind or someone slept in and didn’t make it to work in time to make coffee. Again, I’d be somewhat miffed too and that’s being real! The only difference between the Christians and the non-Christians here is the Christians didn’t curse at them. IMHO!
Dana,
It’s so easy to learn truth sitting in an auditorium,but hard to practice it in McDonalds! I am so guilty of this. I teach in the morning about joy, but by evening I have a grumpy spirit. I want to be living out what I’m learning. This is right where I’m at!
Thank you for this post, I too struggle in the patience department.
Wow Dana,
Thank you for showing your vulnerability and the honesty of how ALL of us behave…. We desire to be givers of fruit but often we fail.
I attended the Deeper Still event last year in SF. The mad rush for seats was one of the most ugly things I have seen. I wonder why the orgaizers set it up this way??? We are human and after all want to sit with our friends… Hmmmmm.
However, one of my girl friends was tackled by a woman linebacker on the second day and it almost ruined the event for her.
God bless you Dana…. And I know the weekend was filled with nuggets from our Lord. Love you. Lynn
This has got to hit home for all of us.Dana. It is true that what we do speaks so loudly people cannot hear what we are saying. It is our daily life that is our greatest testimony of the One who lives withing us.
You did a wonderful job with this. Thank you.