Patience brings endurance to run the race. It is a manifestation of our faith in God!
Patience is a virtue which is more than many treasures when developed. Just recently, my friend got married and I learnt a few things in the process. One of them is the spirit of patience. When we were young it was the norm for people to get married before having children. But as I grew up, I realised that this had changed. It seemed even more normal to have kids before marriage, hence break once virginity.
It was not on my agenda to get married before having my own children but all I knew was that I wanted to have kids roughly in my mid to late twenties as at some point, my "biological clock" might start ticking.
But then things changed when I went to university and I found out that there were another group of young people who were planning on keeping themselves till marriage. This became the norm for me and my ideas changed. I'm glad they did yet I'm also aware that sometimes it is a bit challenging in this present day.
My reason for first mentioning my friend is that, she's one of those young people at university who waited before marriage.
I haven't had the chance to ask her but when I do, I'm sure she'll say that it was worth the wait. All those times when she was faced with compromising the standards in God which she believed to be sure and true and yet did not give up but stood her ground in God's word and decided to wait have become fruitful.
I recently read the book of proverbs (The message bible) and each time, "righteousness" showed up, the word "uncompromisingly" was written before it.
AMP version says in Psalm 92:12 that "The uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful and fruitful]; They shall grow like a cedar in lebanon [ majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible]
Therefore if this promise has been made regarding the standards in God which we decide to keep in the process of dating, then I'm sure it is a blessing
Regarding adulthood and relationships, sometimes when things are not going the way we planned them as little children, we tend to get frustrated and if not careful we rush into things that set us back and make our journeys to our destinations even longer- This has been my feeling for sometime now but God help me. For instance, certain people assume that at a specific age, they are supposed to at least own a car, be in a relationship and have good jobs (Myself included). But sometimes it happens differently. What should we then do if we find that the plans which we made for ourselves are not coming out the way we wanted them to? This is when we need to develop a patient spirit. For in doing so, we will come to find that things will fall into place as they ought to.
I learnt from one of our fellowships at university that patience involves "waiting, trusting and holding tight" with anticipation. God expects us to be alert as we wait in patience. It involves expectation based on knowledge and trust and sometimes not waiting is a sign of arrogance. We should not go ahead of God but rather allow Him to lead us. One of the final things we need to participate in in our process of waiting is to spend time with God in prayer, be still and build our relationship with Him. God will always show up at the right time and give us that which we need. Let us not be bitter as it sometimes happens when the issues in our lives have not been attended to by God. Neither should we give God time to do things but rather wait upon Him because at the time when we are tired and seeking alternatives to Him, it is our own issues that are before Him which He is sorting out.
Psalm 145:15 says "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season"
Psalm 130:5-6 also says "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth on the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning"
You might ask after such a long essay that why should you wait. Well a few reasons would be because of who God is, who we are and what we are not capable of doing.
Here's another favourite verse of mine in the bible on waiting.
Isaiah 40:30-31
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."
Stay focused on the destination as you run the race of endurance and STAY BLESSED AS YOU LEARN TO WAIT UPON THE LORD IN THIS NEW YEAR!!!
Adios!
