Once upon a time, God taught me the concept of Christian patience. Well, He began teaching me. I thought I understood it and even wrote about it. You can read that here. But then life got hard, really hard. I suppose the test comes after the lesson.
Life gets hard, and eventually, we become tempted to shake our fists at God or double down and try harder to fix whatever is going wrong. But, at some point, we come face to face with God’s sovereignty and are forced to humble ourselves under His hand and practice Christian patience, setting out to endure the trial knowing He’ll lift it and you out in His perfect time.
Eventually, God will show us we aren’t in control and makes it quite clear that He is, instead. The last thirteen years of my life have been characterized by trials within trials. It has felt like every aspect of my life has been affected, and nothing changes no matter what I do. God sent me the message loud and clear- He will change things in His time. I am definitely not in control!
There’s a popular idea floating around about how you are in control of your life, and you can make anything happen for yourself. The belief is that you can manifest money and success through mindset and attitude. But, friends, that’s nothing more than a secular prosperity message. I do believe our mindset does play a role and often say perspective changes everything, but that’s not the hinge-pin of our success. If anything, God will change our perspective as needed when it’s time to move forward.
God is sovereign, and He ultimately blesses our ventures and ideas, or He asks us to wait. Sometimes He’s going to tell us no and keep what we would see as success from happening because it’s not His best for us. As hard as it is to accept a no when we pray, it’s even harder when he says “no” or “wait” after our hard work! This has hit close to home for me lately.
Even though God led me to learn about herbs and the human body’s systems and allowed them to bring healing in the past, they stopped working, and we were sick for weeks despite them. I had to humbly submit that He will restore our health in His time. It’s my responsibility to use the knowledge He has given me, but He is sovereign over the outcome and our health.
Even though God had prompted me to build a gardening course and materials to teach gardening, my marketing efforts fell flat a few years ago. The stats were great, but the marketing produced absolutely no sales. While God had been giving me pieces through the years and led me to build that piece of my business, He was clearly saying not now, not yet. It’s my responsibility to do the things he prompts me to do, and He is sovereign over when He will prosper my efforts.
Additionally, even though the Lord has guided each step of our journey with Big Bro, from nutrition and holistic therapies to homeschooling and public school, he still ended up admitted to the psych ward twice in the past six months. We are still facing crisis and uncertainty because of that. Despite the obedience, prayers, and countless efforts to help him, we understand that God has a plan for his life, and we can’t force our way for him.
We have to lean on the Lord, trust His plan, thank him for where he will lead next, and seek Him above all. It’s about humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of the Lord and enduring the trials He brings to our lives. Paul wrote in Romans that all things work for the good of those who love the Lord, so therefore we can conclude that the trials and hard times will produce fruit in our lives. They have a purpose, a holy purpose.
But the struggle is real. Even though I can write out the concept of Christian patience and know it in my head, I’ll admit I struggle to get it from my head to my heart. The human part of me wants to scream that I don’t deserve these trials and it’s unfair. I want to make it about me, pout, and wallow in self-pity, feeling forgotten. Surrendering to God’s way requires a daily sacrifice of my humanness. It’s a daily refocus on Jesus and the hope of heaven. It’s choosing God’s plan and His way even when it’s not what I want.
When we find ourselves at the breaking point because of trials and unanswered prayers, we must remember to practice Christian patience by submitting in a posture of humility and accepting His will, knowing He will lift the circumstances in His time.
David writes comforting words in Psalm 27:13-14.
I believe that I shall look upon
the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord
Be strong, and let your heart take courage
Wait for the Lord.
David knew what it was to doubt the goodness of God because of life’s circumstances, and he knew he needed strength and courage within his heart to wait on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord is part of Christian patience, too, not only enduring the trials the Lord allows.
We are wrestling in good company if the man after God’s own heart struggled this way because once upon a time, God taught David this lesson, too.
