There was a path I longed to walk
That falsely promised joy and peace
But thoughts of Jesus seemed to block
The entrance to that path of ease.
I knew that in the years before
I did not hesitate to go
For promised pleasure swayed me more
Than Jesus and the love He shows.
I prayed to my Father in heaven above,
To ask for a gift that is good,
Expecting He’d give me a sign of His love—
I seem to have misunderstood.
I thought I was one He considers His own,
But how can this be from His hand?
It stings like a serpent, weighs heavy like stone.
It’s more than my soul can withstand.
This morning, my baby woke hot to my touch.
What have I accomplished? I answer, “Not much.”
I snuggled her close and I canceled my plans.
I fell more behind on all life’s demands.
I offered up prayers as she slept in my arms.
Her smile returned and she came through unharmed.
I feel so relieved and yet nothing got done.
I don’t think I’m helping God’s kingdom to come.
When my knees hit the ground and my head bowed in pain,
I spoke with my trainer to ask him again,
“Why does this need to be so hard to bear?
If you give me a break, then I’ll know that you care.
If all I see is here and now,
Then hope at once eludes me.
For this is not where I belong;
This world is not what soothes me.
Our most passionate prayers for patience are often spoken when we are feeling the least patient. “Lord, give me patience,” we plead, longing for God to answer us with an immediate feeling of absolute patience. But God does not seem to work that way often. It seems that even when we’ve prayed, we have to fight hard against feelings of impatience in order to respond with patient words and actions. Feeling like hypocrites, we wonder when and how God will answer our prayers for patience.
Read MoreContentment in the type and amount of work you accomplish in motherhood, or in any other role, is not a magical trait that God sprinkles over you. It is something that must be learned (Phil. 4:11) and fought for daily. One of Satan’s strategies since the day he tempted Eve in the garden is to sow discontent in our hearts. But we do not have to fall for his lies. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can combat him and glorify God by fighting for contentment in the work God has called us to. Here are some practical examples of how to do that…
Read MoreWhen asked where we place our hope, most of us would give the correct answer: we hope in God. But when we look at our reactions to the inconveniences and stressful situations in life, it becomes clear that our natural tendency is to place our hope not in God but in a healthy child, a productive morning, even a bowl of ice cream eaten in peaceful solitude. These things become the “plastic bags” that we love to hold and can’t bear to lose.
Read MoreA few weeks ago I sunk myself into $50,000 of debt by buying a piece of property—a risky Investment but one I was sure would pay off with time. My Investment consumed my money and my mind so much that I hardly noticed the other Players who also sat around the tiny round table as we moved our plastic figures across colored cardboard. My eyes flicked frantically between the rolling dice in which my fate rested, the paper pile in which my Worth rested, the colored square in which my plastic me rested, and the three very green square inches of property in which my hope rested.
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