You have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10
A Big Revelation
Have you ever tried to rest when your inner peace has been dead ended by chaos? Rest is hard to find when you have somehow gotten out of wholly-holy alignment with God. I have this inner smile going on right now, because this fight to rest, it happened to me, very often. Do you want to hear my spectacular wisdom on this? Here it is: God has a sense of humor. I told you, it was a big revelation.
A Sense Of Humor
Patience. At one point in my life, I did not allow anyone to say that word to me, nor did I speak it. As soon as it started to come out of someone’s mouth, I was like… no, no, no, do not say that word to me. I don’t want to hear about patience, I don’t want to pray for patience. That was that. Or was it? Like I said earlier, God has a sense of humor.
A Pin-Pointed Conversation
Every year, God and I have what I call a “pin-pointed” conversation. This divine appointment is always on December 31st of each year. The last day of the year, I like to take time apart with God, a special time of listening for the next year. He always gives me a word for the next year. Not a long message, but just one or two words that He uses to “pin-point” new growth for the coming year. Last year those words were: Patient-Endurance. Oh my. Well, I guess the only One, who could trump my man-made rule of never saying the word “patience”, was God.
A “Yes” On The Table
Needless to say, 2017 has been a year of growth for me. I have to say, in years past, I had been given what I thought were some really good, fun and acceptable words by God. These are a few: Completely, Followship, Wholly-Holy-His, Whole-Hearted, Awe-God Grateful, Undivided. Patient Endurance. Really?!! As soon as I heard it, peace was gone and dread took over. Thankfully, my “Yes” is always on the table with God, so I yielded and began an incredible, 2017 God Adventure. But did I wholly-holy submit? That answer is yet to come. Read on.
A Patient Endurance Lesson
God does things purposefully, mysteriously and miraculously and I am so grateful for this. In my wildest imagination, I could not visualize how growing through with God in the lessons of patient-endurance would be able to increase so many God characteristics in me. We are nearing the end of this year and I have grown in trust, faith, self-control and gratefulness, all of which has led to a healthy surrender to God, which yields an incredible, unshakeable inner peace.
A Double Whammy
I do appreciate and love God’s sense of humor. He could have just used the word patient, but He added patient-endurance. A double whammy. Considering things never quite go the way you plan them in this life, our inner peace can become a very loud train wreck. Confusion is never quiet, especially at times I describe as, “crazy God moments”. These times of consternation of my comfort zone, were usually followed by me saying: “Huh? Really Lord? You want me to what?!”
A Railroad Switch
Have you been on a specific life path where you just loved the status quo of it and felt very comfortable with it? I have. Let me assure you, God is very good at changing things up, divinely disrupting our nice life journey. God can remotely control our train and switch our direction very suddenly, at an unnoticed fork in the track. A railroad switch serves as a joining between two or more similar tracks. Patient-Endurance was that connection for me, which truly switched things up in ways I could not have imagined.
A Train Wreck
Has your peace been train wrecked by God pulling an unlikely switch at the fork in your life-road? This change of direction, it has God purpose in play all around it, all over it and all through it. Learning patient-endurance this year has taught me a quiet-trust. Quite the jewel for me, a person who habitually would react first, in the flesh, more than I responded first, in the spirit. I always found myself lamenting that I did not make the right choice, the first time the opportunity presented itself.
A Flesh Out
When God changed things up for me this year, in a way I had not anticipated, I “fleshed out”. After throwing up all my emotions at God and all over other people, there was an empty, quietness. I made a good choice at that fork in my life-road. I turned my inside out, repentant soul to heavenly hindsight. At this juncture, my rear-view mirror reflected God’s Providential Care. A deep gratefulness soul saturated me and kept me on the switched track.
A Growth Commitment
I began filling my emotion-empty spirit with thankfulness and praise. Gratefulness paid forward a sweet fragrance, which I really needed after the stinky “flesh out” of my soul. Experience taught me, the wisdom of being grateful. This soul position of thanks and praise to God, ushered me out of my self-pity pit and rose me above my self-centeredness to fully faced God. I realized gratefulness, moved me full circle to the place of “Yes Lord”, where I had come from originally. It was here I once again remembered the “pin-point” growth commitment I made of growing through patient-endurance.
A Willess Flesh
Instead of choosing a round two of my emotional fight, I sat still in my quieted, willess flesh. My immediate revelation was very interesting. God had not stepped into my soul tornado, He had allowed my emotional whirlwind to spin out. I bowed my will, soul, and spirit at the foot of the cross. When I arose, peacefully humbled, there God was, standing with arms wide open. The tears fell and I ran into His arms saying: “Okay Lord, I Yield”. My “Yes” was on the table with patient-endurance and there was no doubt about it, it was there to stay. I was ready to grow through patient-endurance, willingly. In that moment of wholly-holy surrender, a peace like no other flooded my soul. This was the promise of peace which surpassed my understanding, and I wanted to stay there in that moment, forever. God said: “Come follow Me”. So off I went, learning and growing in patient-endurance.
A New Spiritual Habit
It has been quite the God Adventure this year. I have grown. It was hard at first, learning and growing through patient-endurance. The Lord had many pre-planned tests, the early ones I failed, the latter ones I passed. The difference in the pass and fail was the change in my focus, and the creation of a new spiritual habit. Trust trumps impulsivity. I don’t react to my worldly viewpoint. I patiently endure it, waiting on God to translate it into His Kingdom Perspective, and then I respond out of that. This new spiritual habit, has simply-significantly changed things up for me.
A Quiet Trust
Patience is a quiet trust, while endurance is an active, grateful faith. Gratefulness is the key to both. Having a thankful heart, quiets the voice of dissatisfaction, which likes to lean into complaining. A grateful heart leans me into the Sovereign Will of God, in a position of surrender, which ushers in His peace. I knew when the peace of God was flowing into my soul, I was wholly-holy aligned with Him and His purposes were in play, as I patiently endured, trusting His way, truth and life.
A Beautiful Life-Circle
Patient-Endurance is soul tied to Gratefulness. Who Knew? I have been living in a beautiful circle of life: gratefulness, surrender, peace, joy and strength. It is an awesome holy alignment. I started out this year with dread and hopefully, I am ending it with miraculous musing, in the heavenly hindsight of patient-endurance.
A Patient Endurance
Patience. There. I said it. Oh, the joy of rest in the peace of God. Yes, He is smiling, His sense of humor is satisfied, because He alone knows the journey we took together to purposefully get me to this sweet place of silent-submission and quiet-rest. Patient-Endurance it is, for now, until December 31st, my next divine “pin-point” appointment. Author, KimberlyMac
For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said this, “In returning to Me and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and confident trust is your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 AMP
Hello, I am the Author of The Bridegroom’s Café. It is my heart’s desire to listen up to God and create menus for this Café that creatively nourish our souls with God’s amazing Word. I have the gift of exhortation, it is such an incredibly sweet God-given gift, because God uses me to encourage others and I love that about Him. I wrote today from a place dear to my heart, about peace in times such as these. I hope you leave a comment letting me know how it touched you and encouraged you. I love it when God speaks and we talk it up! I also highly encourage you to take a journey with Jesus by purchasing the book: The Bridegroom’s Voice. What an incredible piece of God work, it will be a “Great God Adventure” for all who journey through it with Jesus, listening up to His Voice. I hope you purchase one and also gift one to someone else. “The Bridegroom’s Voice”. God bless you, MUCH, KimberlyMac