Holding Pattern

This morning a dear friend sent me this email from an unknown author and I wanted to share it with all of you because it simply hit home with me as I am sure it will with some of you. I’ve been praying earnestly to my Father for some things that I have been struggling with for a while and it just seems that He doesn’t hear me and I’ve become frustrated and depressed. Now I know that I am in a holding pattern. If you’ve been praying for something to happen, for a change to take place in your life and it hasn't happened yet, you are probably in a holding pattern as well. Please read on….

Many times God will allow a painful situation or a painful circumstance in our life to "swallow us up." This season in our spiritual growth is a holding pattern. We can't move to the left or the right. All we can do is sit, like Jonah sat in the belly of that great fish, so God can have our undivided attention and speak to us. God put Jonah in a holding pattern because He needed to speak to his heart. Jonah was all alone. There were no friends to call, no colleagues to drop by, no books to read, no food to eat, no interference, and no interruptions. He had plenty of time to sit, think, meditate, and pray.

When we're deep down in the midst of a difficult situation, God can talk to us. When He has our undivided attention, He can show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen.

A Few of God's Holding Patterns:

1. When you are sick in your physical body and you have prayed but God has not healed you yet, you are in a holding pattern

2. When you are having problems with your children and you have put them on the altar, but God has not delivered them yet, you are in a holding pattern.

3. When you have been praying for the salvation of a loved one and they have not been saved yet, you are in a holding pattern.

4. When you are in a broken relationship and you have given it over to God, but it has not been restored yet, you are in a holding pattern.

5. When the doors slam shut before you can knock on them, you are in a holding pattern.

When we are deep in the belly of a difficult situation, there are no interruptions. God has our undivided attention. All we can do is sit, think, meditate, and pray. We cannot run from God because there are no Mountains that are high enough, valleys low enough, rooms that are dark enough, or places that are hidden enough from Him. We must remember to praise Him while we're waiting and remember three things:

1. The pattern has a purpose.

2. The pattern has a plan.

3. The pattern has a process.

 So stop struggling and start listening, praying and trusting. He'll keep you right where you are until you can clearly hear Him say, "I love you."

Prayer:  Father, forgive my unbelief. I know You Love me and will turn anything around to benefit me. You have planned nothing for me but victories and I am ready to receive them regardless of how difficult the path.  Amen

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.

 God does answer our prayers, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (1 John 5:14-15); "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14)

There are some things we must remember though, 1) whatever we ask for, our promotion of the Gospel must be protocol; 2) all glory belongs to our heavenly Father-never forget that; 3) we cannot ask selfishly-it won’t work; and 4) remember that the Lord knows our needs, our wants, our desires-if it is His will, we will receive.

The Lord does hear all of our prayers, never forget that! At times however, His answer is going to be “no”. And that is the hardest thing to hear, the word “no”. But He knows what we need better than we do ourselves will not give us what we ask for because it is not good for us. So be thankful the of the “no’s”… and.keep on asking!

Thank You Lord, For The Trials!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness [patience]. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

This was one of those scriptures that I found hard to capture. I mean, I’m in mental pain with life’s stressors closing in on every side! And I am supposed to be joyful that I get to go through such agony? Wow!  But then I began to grow in understanding the Word and took a closer look at this thing. I examined how trials can actually make you stronger. I would like to share my thoughts with you.

I was in an abusive marriage for 21 years and during those years I was beyond miserable. I tried to get out of it many times, but something always happened to thwart my efforts. My pain was all too real and my patience, much too short. I would cry on end and pray unceasingly. Perhaps the prayers were evidence of my steadfastness, so to speak. I would grab my Bible and read as tears ran down my face, or sometimes I would watch my girls and pray that my pain wasn’t affecting them. I would shower them with as much love as I possibly could; I would transfer to them, all the affection my ex-husband was not giving to me. At times it was hard but I would not let it affect the way I treated other people or how I interacted with my Christian brothers and sisters. As a matter-of-fact, outside of my children, no one even knew what I was going through. 

I was given my first opportunity to speak at a Ladies’ Inspiration Day and ironically enough it was about marriage. Though I did not speak directly about the abuse I was suffering, I was able to integrate it into my presentation. I was able to talk about the imperfections of humans and the effects our mistreatment of others had on those outside of our private circle. I was then asked to speak at a similar program on unity, which afforded me, yet again an opportunity to assimilate my family situation into my speech. After that, my chances to speak came more frequent. Strangely, they all had some relevance to suffering and life’s trials. And though I was in such mental and physical pain during my marriage it all seemed to fall in line with Psalm 119:71-72 in which David confessed to the Lord that “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statues. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” And again in Psalm 119:75-76 “I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.”

Once I understood that my sufferings actually made me stronger I stopped the pity parties I frequently threw for myself. Would I like to see anyone else go through such agony so they too can understand? Of course not! But I’ve now found myself in a position where I can speak to other women and share with them, and comfort them, and let them know that God is always in control! Even when you think no one cares about you, my God is right there beside you, holding your hand, drying your tears, and whispering it is going to get better, just hold on! Romans 5:2-5 confirms this because it tells us that “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

None of us like to suffer, but how else can we learn? Sufferings give us insight that we can share with others. Suffering draws us closer to God. We’ve “been there, done that” and now when can help others who may be going through the same thing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. We may suffer for a little while but please take comfort in the knowledge that “…for those who love God all things work together or good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

An Arrogant Christian is an Oxymoron

Ephesians 4:2 – Be completely humble, and gentle, be patient, bearing one another in love.

Arrogance is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions”.  Additionally, oxymoron is defined as a “combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly: something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements”. Now let’s go a little further and define contradictory, which is stated as “a proposition so related to another that if either of the two is true the other is false and if either is false the other must be true”. 

Can you imagine what an arrogant Christian would look like? Me? You? Us? Hmmmmmm….There are so many components to Christianity, but arrogance is not one of them! Let’s examine three of the works that define a Christian: humility, gentleness and patience. 

Humility is the ability to realize and accept the fact that is not about you, never has been and never will be! To be humble means to accept your place as a servant, a servant first to the Lord and then to your brothers and sisters in Christ. We ARE not all that and a bag of chips! But what we are is unassuming, mindful of others, always willing to lend a helping hand and most certainly not having a high opinion of ourselves (Philippians 2:3). When we take that grand step of becoming a Christian, we put on a whole new set of clothes-love (Colossians 3:12-15) and start thinking with a new mind-love (1 Peter 3:8). 

Gentleness involves being kind to one another.  As humans, we can be so mean and evil at times; we can cut each other to the bone with our words and actions. We simply forget, or just don’t care how painful it is to be mistreated, and some of the things we do to one another would bring tears to even the resilient. I can imagine that Jesus was faced with the evil that men do, but his kindness was limitless and he exhorts us to learn from His ways (Matthew 11:29). The Apostle Paul tells us that we must pursue gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11). We can reach unbelievers through a spirit of meekness and gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25l 1 Peter 3:15), because they can see how we handle hatefulness and opposition.  Gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Colossians 3:12). An arrogant person cannot exhibit gentleness since they believe it is all about them!

Patience is the ability to wait. It is easy to lack patience with people and that includes our brothers and sisters in Christ. And for many of us, what we want…we want! And when we want it…we want it! We don’t want to wait on the Lord because our flesh is always eager and our hearts are always selfish. We want people to conform to our way of doing things instead of waiting on the Lord to do His thing in our lives (2 Peter 3:9)! God tells us to ask for what we want and He will provide it (Matthew 7:7). However, our problem is we lack patience. Even though God promises, He does not promise to give it to us when we think the time is right!  You would not consider that a lack of patience has anything to do with being arrogant, but just ponder about it for a minute. Arrogant people love themselves more than others, when the Bible clearly tells us how essential it is to love one another (1 Corinthians 13). Also, an arrogant person is impatient with helping others, while the Bible tells us we should not be so (Galatians 6:9). And again, an arrogant person is certainly not going to rejoice in anything that makes them uncomfortable; but as Christians we are told to do just that (Romans 12:12). 

What are you? Christian or arrogant? Because you certainly can’t be both!