The Word is Alive

Letting Your Patience Grow

Allowing Your Patience a Chance to Grow

…for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.—James 1:3-4 TLB

This past Memorial Day weekend we had our annual family trip. I plan for weeks to creatememorable moments with our five grandchildren each year. This year was no different. We call this weekend “GG camp” and I enjoy the adventure of planning activities, crafts and games, while providing lots of opportunities to connect with these little ones. I will say that by the end of the weekend, my husband and I were ready to pack up to get home and settled in for the work week.

We left at 10 am from Ocean City, Maryland on Memorial Day and the GPS was not kiddingwhen it had red indicating heavy traffic awaiting us most of the trip home. It ended up beingnearly six hours of steady stop and go traffic rather than the three hours we first thought.During the L-O-N-G drawn out trip home, you would think we used this time to enjoy thescenery, or talk about all the memories from the weekend. I have to admit it may have started out that way, but before long, we had a tough time staying positive and upbeat. Frustration and impatience wanted to set in and it was a battle to allow our patience to prevail. Have you ever asked God to help make you become more patient? In studying what the Bible says about patience, I was amazed to discover patience grows and becomes stronger when we experience challenges.

Patience is commonly defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering

without getting angry or upset. The enemy is ready to try to get us discouraged or frustrated

through each delay and setback in the journey of life. When we get lured into the temptation to quit, our patience does not get a chance to develop.

James 1:2-4 (VOICE) encourages us to find joy in the hardships of life and reminds us toembrace them so our faith will blossom under pressure and teach us true patience. With thisperspective we find ourselves able to endure the trials and complete the L-O-N-G journey.In this world we are going to experience challenges and if we lean on the strength of the Holy Spirit and keep our focus on God’s promises rather than the circumstances around us, we will not only see our patience grow and develop, but we will become strong in character, complete and lacking in nothing. Now that is victorious living! That is how we can really make a difference in the world.Blessings,Cindy

You Are Beloved

You Are God’s Beloved Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us—He calls us children of God!

It’s true; we are His beloved children….—1 John 3:2 VOICE

Since I was out of town and needing a lunch break, I found a restaurant nearby and surprisingly it was not busy at all. In fact, I was the only person eating in my section of the restaurant for the longest time. Then after I finished my meal and was getting ready to leave, a woman was seated in the table next to mine. Something inside me said wait, don’t leave just yet, so I asked for more water and waited for my next instruction from God. Pretty soon I got the tug from God to reach out to the woman who was now reading a book. I couldn’t make out a title, but I did see the word faith on one of the pages she was reading. I asked her what she was reading and she showed me the title of her book, “Getting to the Other Side of Grief: Overcoming the Lose of a Spouse.” I asked if she had lost a spouse and tears began to well up in her eyes and all she could do was nod yes. In the time we shared together, God gave me words of encouragement she needed right at that moment. The bottom line was He wanted to affirm her and let her know she was God’s Beloved.

It was amazing to witness God showing up in the most unusual place. She was from out of town, and so was I. She had come to Charleston to have an encounter with God. Who would have thought it would happen in a quiet restaurant during lunch. When I hugged her goodbye, she said with a tearful expression, “I am no longer feeling alone. Thank you for your words of encouragement.

I now have hope and I believe that I will get through this with God’s loving support.”When we feel alone and overwhelmed with life, we should remember that God’s love is greater than our doubts, our loneliness and abandonment. God wants to lavish us with His extravagant love and provide us with that unconditional love we all desire. 1 John 3:2 reminds us that even when we don’t have a clear picture of our destiny yet; we can be assured that He has selected us to be part of His family.

He has plans for our good, to give us a future and a hope (see Jeremiah 29:11).Paul encourages us in Ephesians 3:17 that it is important to have our roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. Any tree that has deep roots will not fall or be destroyed during the storms it encounters and when we believe and receive God’s love for us, it enables us to stand firm through the storms in our life. He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He won’t fail us. He is always there to get us through the difficulties, the disappointments and loss and He assures us that He will work them all out for our good.

We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.—Romans 8:28

You are beloved by God and His love will allow you to not fear the future, to have hope and assurance that He will see you through.

Blessings,Cindy