Patience Is A Virtue....I Want It

As everyone that follows me on Twitter or Facebook knows, I have been rereading the book "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer. I try to read it once a year as a "fresher course" for the renewing of my mind. I seem to get more and more out of it each time that I read it. Or do I?

I pick up my daughter every day from school. I go early to get in the car rider line and use the time spent waiting, reading the book and my Bible....a much needed "snack" in the middle of the day. So, yesterday, I was reading Chapter 20 and it deals with PATIENCE! This lovely virtue that I have struggled with for years...the lack of having it I should say. As I read, I underline really good points that Joyce makes and I even knod and silently agree. I totally get what she is saying and I promise myself that I am going to start putting all of this into practice. I go so far as to look the scripture up in my Bible and highlight it. Boy, I'm cooking now!

Joyce says in this chapter that ""Impatience is the fruit of pride." As I read more and more I realized that I have a lot of pride....but, from this day forward I am going to work on that! I ask God to help me in this area. You know, how often do we pray and really expect God to answer us right now? I tickle myself at times....I am praying this prayer in the car line at school...I have my Bible with me, my Joyce Meyer book, my highlighter AND pen...feeling the words so deeply both from the book and the scripture...and my Spirit says to me "Ok Julia."

My little girl comes out of school and she hops in the car and New Improved Patient Mommy says "Hi sweetie, how was your day?" She answers "Part good, part bad." I am beaming on the inside because whatever it is...I've asked God for patience...I will handle this beautifully!

She had two sheets sent home that needed to be redone and returned. Remember, I am patient now...I asked God to give me patience! I prayed that prayer with sincerity and I am reading the book...AND highlighting! As we pull out of the parking lot and get on the busy road towards home...she says "But I forgot my book." This has become a habit of my child's...forgetting the things she needs and we have made several return trips to school. Guess what happened next?

I'd like to say I took a deep breath and smiled at my child, relieving her anxiety and patiently turned the car around.....but I didn't. I grumbled and complained and told her she was going to have to get it together and marched in that school with her to GET THAT BOOK!! I continued to lecture her on the way home...and then, a bus driver had the audacity to pull out in front of me, probably in a hurry to get his second load of kids from another school...in his unairconditioned bus...but, how dare he do that when I was trying to get home in a hurry. And then it happened....my Spirit says to me "You do know that this is exactly what the book was saying...you think that YOU should not be inconvenienced. You did not show patience at all...but, we will try again."

Funny thing is...I did not feel deflated this time. Usually when I mess up, I beat myself up. Not this time. How was this time different? This time, I heard that small voice telling me "Okay, so you messed up. I will keep letting you know and you will continue to pick yourself up and try again." The Bible tells me that I am more than a conqueror! I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me! Patience is a fruit and I will water it and feed it and treat it with kid gloves until it is FULLY developed.

I did ask God to help me develop patience...so, I am more than prepared for what He will throw in my path to help build that muscle! Bring it on!