In Suffering-Wait on God

I pose this question. What does "waiting" on God mean in the midst of suffering? I have thoughts but I'd like some feedback as to what you think-

I think that one must start with Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." So we are comanded to be patient, and if we look at Romans 5:3-5, "3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Thus far, 1. we are to be patient 2. Perservering 3. "rejoicing" 4. Waiting-

a. Psalm 38:15
I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.

b. Isaiah 30:18
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

c. Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

How do you practice your "waiting?"

These past couple of weeks have not been the easiest of weeks, to say the least. I keep asking the Lord, "what in the world are you trying to teach me besides being patient?" In church last week I was sitting there praying, concentrating on the sermon was not going to happen with the past couple of weeks on my mind. As I began questioning the Lord I was reminded of Joseph, man of God-given dreams, hopes, faith, and yet he was stuck in jail. Having been unjustly accused of 'putting the moves on Pottifers (sp?) wife,' he remained faithful to the Lord. Even in the midst of unjustice, even when the dreams of his future seemed lost, he remained. I wonder if he ever fell into doubt, "God, were those dreams really from you?" Obviously we all know the end of the story of his becoming 2nd in command over all Egypt. I pray that if even imprisoned, I would remain faithful, and that I would never question the character of God, and would not doubt the dreams I believe he's planted in my heart.

I'm a Gorilla

Something that the Lord has really been teaching me is this whole concept of delighting in the daily routine. Today was one of those days where I prayed, “Lord Jesus, just please help me to get through this day faithfully.” After my four classes and an unexpected oral exam in Russian class (talk about random, I had to speak in Russian about my ideal future husband, it was definitely hilarious). ANYWAYS. I drove on up to Reston where every Monday afternoon I teach a family of 3 boys, piano. These kids are really talented for their ages, but the little guy, Samuel (age 7) has been going through these stages where he has been struggling to not compare himself to his brothers. One week he’s in tears, the next week I get these tantrums about how he isn’t good enough to play…and the list goes on and on.
WELL, today we were working on a really hard piece that I had given him about two weeks ago. It’s called, “The Gorilla.” As he began to play he just poured himself into this piece and started somewhat moving his body with excitement and getting lost inside of the music. For a 7 year old to play this piece -it’s pretty impressive. When we had finished working on it he made me get his mom so she could come and listen. When he had finished working on the two pages he jumped up off the bench and gave me about 10 high fives and had the biggest smile on his face. I have never been so proud of a student. As I was teaching his brother he came in randomly and asked me what my favorite color was. Ten minutes later he comes bursting through the doors and hands me this pink card colored with stars and hearts. On the cover it read, “Love Sam.” He wrote me the sweetest note inside about being the “gratest techer.” Today was one of those days where I was simply trying to survive the load and yet in the midst of my attempting to be faithful God gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received. To have seen Samuel accomplish what he did, and to work that hard and succeed with that hard of a piece, what a miracle-especially that smile when month after month it’s been this constant uphill climb with his discouragement.

side note; for about a couple months I’ve really started to pray for my students and view my “job” as ministry and I tell you what, God’s been blowing me away. What a gift ☺

Imagination in prayer?

Tonight was another night of worship practice, (my abosolute favorite thing in the world). I mean most people are excited about quick rehersals, me on the other hand, I am majorly disapointed. To kind of set the stage here, the drummer was an hour late, so we sat around and just shared about what Christ was doing in each of our lives and kind of what our expectations were for the evening. Before prayer I asked the worship leader, "so what's Christ been showing you lately?" To my suprise, his answer has still left me in somewhat of a daze. He began sharing about how he and his new bride had just found out that she has scholiosis. Not the worst disease in the world, but not fun. He told us that he prays everyday over her, but that in his prayers he imagines himself putting the bones back to where they need to be, or lengthened etc...what faith!

I think that he hit a key point. I think there is a direct coorelation between faith and how we visually view what we pray. I sometimes think about my daily times with Christ and when I pray how request after request flies out out of my mouth, and yet what picture is painted in my mind? If when I prayed for healing for people I actually visualized the healing of Christ falling upon that particualr person and seeing the actual healing in my head. I remember one time in a meeting with this one leader we were sitting down and he was sharing about the sermon on the mount. He asked me, "Steff, you ever just imagine yourself sitting on that hill before Christ, can you feel the grass between your fingers and the rays from the hot sun, can you imagine Christ speaking to you, and those around you, and just having his gaze rest upon you as he says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.." I pray that I would grow in faith to see things that are unseen.

Jecko's Last Saturday Night As a SINGLE women

"Angel of Mercy how did you find me...."

Today was dynmaic, to say the least. It was supposed to be one of those relaxing days where you have absolutely nothing planned, in hope that by some miracle you can recoop from the past week. At around 1:30 I went to meet my mom for lunch. I happened to arrive early and started to review some notes that I had recently took regarding "the doctrine of man." (random I know) I started to read when the manager of the restaurant came to me and said, "is that your Bible?" I bet you can guess where this led..

As we began to talk about the Lord and what I was reading my mother arrived and jumped right into our conversation. The next minutes were absolutely glorious. Our friend began to open up about his life and what he felt God was doing in him and with his family, along with fears and struggles. It was as if time had stopped. The presence of the Lord was present in such a powerful way. I remember just sitting there as my mom began to speak scripture into our friends life and how God had shown us His victory and power through our trials as a family, similar to what he was currently experiencing with his family. My spirit was in such a state of awe as this transaction took place. We ended up speaking with this man for almost an hour! O' the faithfulness of our father! It was such a good reminder of how God is so merciful in that He meets us where we are at. We are never out of the palm of his hand. This man so graciously shared with us his testimony of how he used to sell and use drugs, I mean you name it he probably did it. And yet now his heart is burning for others, espeically the youth of America and of the nations. But-there was fear, and there was anxiousness and worry holding him back from what God was calling him to do and yet God used a mother and daughter, at a lunch table to encourage a fellow brother in time of need. May I never forget the faithful love of our gracious heavenly father.