Patience

Today I had the opportunity to give the message to the middle school kids at church.  We are going through the Fruit of the Spirit this summer and I volunteered to talk about patience.  Patience is one of the biggest rewards I gained in our in vitro process.  I'm still not the best at it, but I have grown leaps and bounds.

As a youngster I was always looking forward to the next big thing...being another year older, starting a new grade in school, different sporting opportunities, turning 16, etc.  Once I reached my highly anticipated event, I didn't enjoy it, but moved on to the next place I could hardly wait to be.  I was quite impatient.

I'm sure God tried to tell me to slow down at different points throughout my childhood, but I don't really remember noticing.  However, once I wanted to have a baby, God said wait.  And we waited, not very patiently, but we waited. 

Something I've learned lately is that God does always answer prayer.  He just doesn't always answer how you'd expect Him to.  Sometimes God says yes.  Sometimes God says no.  And sometimes God says wait.  We aren't in control and when we pretend to be, that is most often when God responds differently to our prayers than what we expect. 

Now, I can look back and be so thankful that God told me to wait.  I am thankful for the infertility and in vitro experience we had because it gave me much, much more than the most beautiful and amazing daughter on the planet.  Today is the first time I've shared my story with a big group and they were a bunch of 11-14 year olds!  I didn't focus too much on the in vitro and baby stuff, but on the patience God taught me.  I never anticipated being able to use my story in this way, but I never anticipated having my story, either.  Patience was obviously something I needed and I'm glad to pass along the importance of it in all aspects of life!

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  Psalm 37:7