Finding Peace while Finding Patience
I forgot how much I loved Columbia.
It's a warm and sunny Friday afternoon here in Cola, and I'm back in my favorite nook of my favorite coffee shop here in town. The one where I tend to get a lot accomplished, so hoping for big things here.
The first day of class was yesterday, and as was expected, went well. Another year full of studying and tests and papers and quizzes and a lot of knowledge. And I think I'm ready for it. Better be, right?
It's nice to be back. Back in the place where I'm learning and growing and surrounded by my dearest friends (literally living with them!). I can't imagine being anywhere else.
It is so comforting to know that the Lord guides our every steps. That He knows what He is doing when He places us in certain situations, or puts certain people in our lives.
Or when He leads you to create a blog.
Like when He put it on my heart to share my words TWO YEARS ago this week.
Back in August of 2014 I had no idea of what lay ahead of me. I had no clue of college or sorority life or Clarkston, Georgia or even who I would sit with the first West Florence football game of that year.
It's fun for me to go read those old blogs. I realize just how much I really was clueless on.
But seeing where I was then and where I am now shows me just how much the Lord has been working on my heart. How the different experiences I've been in have shaped and molded my spirit and are continuously doing so.
It's something I've been thinking a lot on this week. Just how the Lord has grown me in the last two years.
I got a haircut Wednesday. It really wasn't that much of a change, I didn't do anything crazy necessarily, just chopped 3 1/2 inches off. It went from mid-back to shoulder length. And I love it.
Do you know why I love it so much?
Because that hair cut was instantly gratifying.
I realized last week that I wanted it cut before school, I made the appointment, the nice lady cut it, and I had INSTANT change. It was new and different and it changed within ten minutes.
As humans we LOVE instant gratification. When we want something, we want it at just that moment.
Or at least, I do.
And one of the things the Lord has been working on in my heart over the last two years is that His change is not like that.
It's not instant.
And neither are His plans.
They work out in HIS timing, and HIS timing alone.
And that is just something that has been mediating on my heart this week, as I think of the crazy, fun last two years.
The Lord is so good y'all. He has led me to this place of sharing my words and thoughts and hopefully inspiring others. But that didn't happen overnight.
And as much as I want things in my life to happen overnight, that is not how He does it.
So right now as I am in this season of waiting, waiting for clarity on what to do in certain situations, waiting for God to bring the right people in my life, for heavens sakes even waiting on rush to be over so I can find out who the next girls joining our sorority will be.. I am being reminded that God's plans are perfect.
That they are perfect and His timing is perfect no matter how long it takes.
If you haven't heard Hillary Scott's new song, Thy Will, I highly highly recommend it.
One of my favorite lines from the song is,
Sometimes I gotta stop and remember that you are God and I am not.
I
Am
Not.
What powerful words.
It's interesting to see that the disciples of Jesus wondered this same thing of God's timing. After Jesus rose from the dead, Acts tells us that the disciples asked Him when they would receive the Holy Spirit, when would He restore the kingdom to Israel, when when when?
And he responded by saying, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." Acts 1:7
So if you are in a season of life right now where you are waiting, and it seems like God has put a hold on things, take heart. He has it under control.
Know that He is perfect, and His plans are perfect. He is enough, now and always.
Trust in Him.
Psalms 37:4-6
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
He is piecing together your plan. And although it may sometimes feel like He is not paying attention to you, God is always constantly working for the good of those who love Him.
And so we wait fully confident in the fact that the Lord knows what is best for us.
Isaiah 46:9-11
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’"
Take heart my friends.
As my favorite verse says,
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that will stand." Proverbs 19:21
Thy will, Father God. Thy will, in thy timing.
Amen.
It's a warm and sunny Friday afternoon here in Cola, and I'm back in my favorite nook of my favorite coffee shop here in town. The one where I tend to get a lot accomplished, so hoping for big things here.
 |
| Me and some of my nearest and dearest |
It's nice to be back. Back in the place where I'm learning and growing and surrounded by my dearest friends (literally living with them!). I can't imagine being anywhere else.
It is so comforting to know that the Lord guides our every steps. That He knows what He is doing when He places us in certain situations, or puts certain people in our lives.
Or when He leads you to create a blog.
Like when He put it on my heart to share my words TWO YEARS ago this week.
 |
| How we felt about Day One of sorority recruitment |
It's fun for me to go read those old blogs. I realize just how much I really was clueless on.
But seeing where I was then and where I am now shows me just how much the Lord has been working on my heart. How the different experiences I've been in have shaped and molded my spirit and are continuously doing so.
It's something I've been thinking a lot on this week. Just how the Lord has grown me in the last two years.
I got a haircut Wednesday. It really wasn't that much of a change, I didn't do anything crazy necessarily, just chopped 3 1/2 inches off. It went from mid-back to shoulder length. And I love it.
 |
| (Pre-Hair Cut) |
Do you know why I love it so much?
Because that hair cut was instantly gratifying.
I realized last week that I wanted it cut before school, I made the appointment, the nice lady cut it, and I had INSTANT change. It was new and different and it changed within ten minutes.
As humans we LOVE instant gratification. When we want something, we want it at just that moment.
Or at least, I do.
 |
| Post Hair-Cut (And first day of class!) |
And one of the things the Lord has been working on in my heart over the last two years is that His change is not like that.
It's not instant.
And neither are His plans.
They work out in HIS timing, and HIS timing alone.
And that is just something that has been mediating on my heart this week, as I think of the crazy, fun last two years.
The Lord is so good y'all. He has led me to this place of sharing my words and thoughts and hopefully inspiring others. But that didn't happen overnight.
And as much as I want things in my life to happen overnight, that is not how He does it.
So right now as I am in this season of waiting, waiting for clarity on what to do in certain situations, waiting for God to bring the right people in my life, for heavens sakes even waiting on rush to be over so I can find out who the next girls joining our sorority will be.. I am being reminded that God's plans are perfect.
That they are perfect and His timing is perfect no matter how long it takes.
If you haven't heard Hillary Scott's new song, Thy Will, I highly highly recommend it.
One of my favorite lines from the song is,
Sometimes I gotta stop and remember that you are God and I am not.
I
Am
Not.
What powerful words.
It's interesting to see that the disciples of Jesus wondered this same thing of God's timing. After Jesus rose from the dead, Acts tells us that the disciples asked Him when they would receive the Holy Spirit, when would He restore the kingdom to Israel, when when when?
And he responded by saying, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." Acts 1:7
So if you are in a season of life right now where you are waiting, and it seems like God has put a hold on things, take heart. He has it under control.
Know that He is perfect, and His plans are perfect. He is enough, now and always.
Trust in Him.
Psalms 37:4-6
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
He is piecing together your plan. And although it may sometimes feel like He is not paying attention to you, God is always constantly working for the good of those who love Him.
And so we wait fully confident in the fact that the Lord knows what is best for us.
Isaiah 46:9-11
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’"
As my favorite verse says,
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that will stand." Proverbs 19:21
Thy will, Father God. Thy will, in thy timing.
Amen.
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