Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Patient

Ever feel like God's being quiet? I'm there right now. I know He's SO involved with my life. I know He's in me, around me, everywhere. It's just one of those times, and all followers have them, when He chooses to let me wait in silence.

For the most part it's a comfortable silence. A companionable quiet between me and Him. It still requires patience. Our encounters consist of me asking a lot of questions and Him just listening. His silence tells me perhaps I'm not ready for the answers.

Sigh.


So while I'm waiting, I'm going ahead with something He put in my mind to do several weeks ago. Memorize Romans 8. Here are the first few verses. On my honor I'm typing them from memory. (NIV)

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful man, to be a sin offering. So He condemned sin in sinful man, so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."

It's a comfort. Better than any security blanket I know. My world and my head are spinning out of control. God is choosing to give my waiting ability a workout. But His words are there, they are ever true, they are His love for me in black and white. This is why I had to stop with one tattoo. I'd cover myself with His words if I ever really got started. I'd be one of those people on some TV show...

Anyway. Time to start the day. If you see a crazy woman going around mumbling phrases from Romans under her breath... that's just me trying to be patient.

4 comments:

Mary said...

If you want to see how your doing with your patience level, you could come to Nashville and spend a few days potty training my Ivan. Really, you can. I don't mind.

Greg Finch said...

Is your life TRULY "spinning out of control?" Challenging . . . Maddening . . . Beautiful . . . Enlightening . . . Be careful when you pray for an adventure. When it comes you may mistake it for chaos.

. . . I am God and not a human; I am the Holy One, and I am among you. I will not come against you in anger. 10 They will go after the Lord, and he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will hurry to him from the west. 11 They will come swiftly like birds from Egypt and like doves from Assyria. I will settle them again in their homes," says the Lord. (Hosea 11:9-11)

Don't fall for that "Footsteps" crap. There's only ever one set of footsteps and they belong to your Strong Tower. For a "Woman on the Edge" adventure is not an option it's a core value. Don't let Satan convince you it's a control issue.

Truth in love - my favorite sister, Greg

Rebecca Jeffries-Hyman said...

How right you are, Finch. Thanks for caring enough to tell me the truth. It brings tears, as usual. Maybe God's not so quiet after all. Maybe He just decided to use you today.

As for you, Mary, I KNOW that the "tribulation that worketh patience" is potty training. I know it.

Christy said...

That dang Paul and his run-on senetences! There's so much to be found in that little passage and so much parsing to do to get to it! No matter how in-control we are, we will never measure up. And that's the beautiful thing, here. The Law is just our interpretation of how to live out God's Word and it's flawed too. So, out-of-control isn't really that different from in-control when we're relying on Jesus to meet the requirements for us.
I, for one, sometimes appreciate those times of silence. It's comfortable for a while that way - when God is actively speaking into my life, it's usually pretty disconcerting.