I'm not a patient person by nature. I don't think that many people are anyways, but only by the grace of God can I hope to be patient. I know that I will never be a teacher, because once I understand something, it's hard for me to find the patience to teach it to someone who doesn't get it as fast as I did, if they get it at all. So you can imagine how hard it is for me to be patient when, after getting this amazing revelation about trusting my life to God, I see someone not understanding the same thing. I know that God has everything under control, and that when I give Him my life and my focus (delighting myself in His ways) He'll take my life and He'll use it and bless it (giving me the desires of my heart). But does she?
By the way, you know who you are. If you read this, anyways.
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" - Philippians 4:19
(Get ready, this is a big one) "Therefor I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." - Matthew 6:25-32
In Oregon I had to learn that God was and is and always will be sufficient for me. He is gracious enough to give me amazing and supporting friends and family, but He is the only thing that I need. He is my life and my focus and I can't let anything tear me away from Him. I gave Him my heart, mind, soul, body, thoughts, desires, questions, everything I have, and because of that I know that my life will be blessed and I don't have to worry about where I'm going to live, what job I'm going to have, who I'm going to marry or anything else. It really hurts me to see those closest to me desperately clutch at their lives and as a result constantly stress out about the future. If it's given to God, there's no hassle. If it's given to God, He'll take it and bless it. He'll give you more things than you expect, definitely more than you deserve, and He'll do it because He loves you. Trust me, I've been there. It's an amazing place to be in, trusting that God holds your life in His hands. And His are extremely capable hands. He loves you unconditionally. No good thing is withheld from His children. And if it's bad - if it takes precedence over Him - He loves you enough to take it away.
I've seen people who have experienced this. I've heard their testimony. You don't have to experience it to understand it, you just have to see it happen. God used the punishment He served to the Israelites (in Ezekiel and other places) to strike fear into the hearts of the Gentiles so that they would see the consequences of disobeying God. Why be the Israelites if you can be the Gentiles? Why bear the punishment if you don't have to? Give it fully to God now and be spared the angst and the trial.
I feel like that was really doomsday-ish. I hope it registers, though.
God bless.
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