Patience

Yesterday, I was talking to my friend Amber and we were discussing how we want to become not only better wives to our husbands, but better Christians as well. I was explaining to her how I've grown Spiritually since the deaths of Lauren Hymer in 2006 and especially Jill Attebery just two and a half weeks ago. I've been so inspired by these two and their families beyond belief!

I was telling Amber the story that I heard on Jill's funeral service video..Shortly before Jill's death, her husband, Pastor Scott, asked her "Jill, how do you put up with all of my stubbornness and impatience?" and she didn't say anything like "Oh honey, you aren't stubborn or impatient!". She just looked at him and smiled and said "Patience."

When I heard that story, I got VERY emotional and it made me look at how sometimes I come across the same way as Scott..stubborn and impatient!! I tend to let myself get angry and I take it out on my husband when I should really just be patient! I'm trying to better myself in this department, but catch myself falling back into the angry state again. For instance, Brandon has been working the past three nights in a row and he got home this morning at 6 am and he wanted me to wake him up at 10:00 am so that he could sleep tonight because he starts working days tomorrow. Well, me trying to be a sweet wife, I give him an extra 30 minutes to sleep and don't go in there until 10:30, but he doesn't want to get up. I went back in there every 30 minutes or so once or twice and finally at about noon, I said "I'm not coming in here again!!!!". He finally got up at about 1:30 and started getting ready to go hunting! So my impatience and anger kicks in because he works so much, I barely get to see him... and when he has the day off, he wants to hunt!!! I understand it's a man thing and they love to do it and I am so happy he has a hobby. However, I feel like I am left out of everything and start to feel very lonely and depressed because I am CONSTANTLY home alone... whether he's working or in the woods. I explained to him that he really shouldn't kill anymore deer because he's already killed three. We got two back from the processing plant yesterday and it was $215!!! We still have one more to pay for and our freezer is just about stocked! We don't need anymore! So I thought for SURE he'd spend his one day off with me. When he's not in the woods, all he wants to do is watch TV.. and all I ever have to do is watch TV! So I get upset with that. I try so hard to tell myself to be patient and to just understand, but catch myself showing anger each time. I'm really praying to God for a lot more patience!

With that being said, I was telling Amber that she really needed to get the book Diamonds in the Dust by Joni Eareckson Tada. It's a daily devotional book and only takes up maybe 5-10 minutes of your day and it's SO worth it!! I think I've gotten Amber talked into buying it. For today, one of the devotions is really sticking out to me. I'm going to share it with you. It's from the October 23 devotion:

"Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. You have bound me - and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me." - Job 16:7-8,12

You've heard of the patience of Job? To me that never made sense, because the book of Job is one long list of complaints. Not one to take suffering meekly, Job cried out in protest against God. Even his friends were shocked at his impudent anger. Goodness, most of us would bite our nails in fearful trembling if we ever talked to God that way.
God, however, does not get offended. He doesn't get insulted or intimidated. In fact, in a supreme touch of irony, in the end God orders Job's pious comforters to seek repentance from the man himself, Job, the very source of so many heated complaints.
I love that about God. Where it concerned Job, the guy was only human. And, yes, his patience was gloriously played out in that he refused to curse God and die. But it was the Lord who demonstrated the very best of what it means to be patient. God, as it says elsewhere in Scripture, refused to break the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. God even defended Job!
The patience of Job? I would think it should be the patience of God. The God of Job- your God- defends the hurting, uplifts the oppressed, and listens to the complaints of the suffering. He may not respond to your questions with neat, pat answers, but He will always, always answer your questions with His own patience.

Prayer: O, patient and long-suffering God, thank You for being so tolerant with me, with all Your children who tend to complain. Patiently lead us through our trials until praise is on our lips.

AMEN! Wasn't that amazing?!? I love this book!!! It always tends to lift me up and I find the prayer I need daily!!!