What’s the Rush?

August 15, 2023August 12, 2023 / The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

What is the rush?

We run to get dressed. We hustle to get the kids ready for school. We hurry to get to work. We scurry to get our jobs done.

We dash to get the kids home, to eat, to practice, to do homework and off to bed. We bustle to get ourselves to sleep to start the new day all over again.

We rush, rush, rush like a hamster on a wheel.

Even our breaks and our vacations seem to fill up with more scheduling and more doing.

But why the rush? What is so important?

Our breathing, our health, our expressions of love?

Our legacies, our memories, our impressions of care?

What is really vital? Our advancements or our investments?

What really makes a difference? Our successes or our impacts?

Can we take a breath and inhale a little peace and exhale a little gratitude?

Can we take a pause and look around us and reach to the ones coming behind?

Slow down a minute and really see who is watching you.

Stop seeking the approval of those who won’t matter tomorrow.

Seek the One who will be there for eternity.

Encompass those who await your calm.

Envelope those who need your adoration.

Take a rest and make a memory for life.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10

The work of righteousness will be peace,
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest, and the city is brought low in humiliation.
Isaiah 32:17-19

Restless in the Waiting

February 13, 2017February 12, 2017 / The WheatandTares / 7 Comments

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When we have to wait on the Lord to answer a prayer, it can often be a grueling process. I’m not talking about those prayers that we just think He should answer, because it seems like a good idea, or because we wish things could be a little more comfortable and the answer would make it so. I’m talking about those prayers when we are desperate for the answer we are praying, life and death situations, like when the circumstances are so dire, that if He doesn’t come through, life will seriously be altered. Those are the moments when “waiting on the Lord” can become incredibly difficult.

When we have to wait and wonder if His answer might be “no” or when we have to wait and wonder if He will answer at all, those are the days when waiting can feel as if you’re watching the earth in orbit around the sun in real time, and you’re beginning to question if it will even stay constant and true. These are the occasions when, if we are truly honest with ourselves and with God, we get a little impatient with Him. We get a little testy in our responses, and we might even start having doubts of His abilities or His willingness to follow through with the promises from His Word.

…Don’t look at me that way, if you haven’t been there, then keep on living, ‘cuz either you’re just a mountain of perfected faith, bless your perfect heart, or you haven’t faced the dire straights in this faith living quite yet. I promise you, if you are human, you will face a moment of life and death of a loved one, or you will face circumstances, at some point, that beyond your control or even ability to understand, and there will be an instance when you will face that wall of doubt within your heart and mind. That is when you will have to decide whether you truly believe He is God, and He knows best. In that space of time, you will decide to wait on Him or worry and fret, trying to make the perfect happen within your own strength and carnal knowledge.

Can I tell you? I have found Him to be true time and time again. When you place your worries, fears and doubts right back into His hands and you begin to wait on Him, He will give you rest. He will give you peace. He will give you strength. He never ever fails! He is faithful, and He is true! He is trustworthy, and He is able to carry us through whatever difficulty we might face. So, I encourage you today. Wait upon Him. Find your rest in Him, for He will do as He said He would do. He will carry you through.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31, KJV

How’s It Growing?

October 20, 2016September 22, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

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A Chinese bamboo seed stays hidden in the ground for 4 years. It shows NO amount of growth on the surface for that entire amount of time. Then, in the fifth year, something amazing happens. In just six weeks, that same bamboo tree grows to a staggering ninety feet tall. It has even been measured to grow 48 inches in a single 24hour period.

Many have equated this type of growth with the rate of success in one’s life, but I would like to equate this to the process God, sometimes, does within our souls. There are times when we simply can’t see the change we so long to see. We work and toil, worry and sweat, striving to obey in what He has directed us, and we wonder if the growth will ever be what He has promised it will be.

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Sometimes, we won’t see the immediate results that we so long to see, but if we will remain focused and diligent in what He has called us to do, we will surely see His promise fulfilled in His timing. Sometimes, He is working things out of our own heart and mind to get us ready for that growth. I have found that when I have to “wait on Him,” He is working on my character to help me be prepared for what He is bringing forth.

Can I tell you? He’s not finished until He says He’s finished! Sometimes, we just have to be patient in the waiting. This patience doesn’t mean to simply “kick back, relax, and take it easy,” but it means to be graceful in the commitment of the process. It means to continue putting one foot in front of the other and finish what He told you to start. It means to be just like a farmer who plants those bamboo seeds and waits through the summer heat of four years to see the abundant harvest of fall in that fifth year.

thefellowshipsite.org

How Well Do You Wait?

October 6, 2016September 23, 2016 / The WheatandTares

Waiting on Him can be trying, challenging, pressure-filled and, sometimes, downright frustrating. Come on saints, let’s be honest, do you always enjoy waiting on the Lord? Or have you grown “so mature” in your Christian faith that honesty just isn’t part of it anymore?

relatably.com

There have been moments in my life when waiting has been an absolute pain. I’ve not liked it, didn’t understand it, and couldn’t wait for God to bring forth the answer for which I’ve been praying! It’s hard to admit, but there have even been moments in the waiting when I’ve pitched a little temper tantrum for God to see how much I didn’t enjoy the waiting period! Now, that’s not the proper way to respond, because, I know, God knows best, and I should just simply trust Him. However, I don’t claim to be perfect, and I can guarantee you, those times when He has made me wait, I have learned some very valuable lessons for life…

A few things I have learned in the Waiting:

Sometimes, God has us wait, because He is fixing a situation, and we get to see the glorious results when He is finished.
Sometimes, God is working on someone else’s stubborn heart, and it takes a little bit for Him to get through to that person.
Sometimes, God has us wait, because He is fixing our own stubborn heart, and it takes Him a bit to get through our thick skull!
Sometimes, God is working good out of a bad situation from which we will benefit.
Sometimes, God has us wait, because His answer has to be NO, and we’re just not quite ready to hear it or receive it.
Waiting always brings a chisel along to chip away hard places that have formed in my heart.
Waiting, if I allow it to, makes me slow down, reassess, and redirect my thoughts and feelings.
Waiting always brings a new realization of who I am and who He desires me to be.
Waiting, when I allow it to, causes me to see more of Him and less of me.
Waiting always moves me closer to the Father when I am earnestly seeking Him for His answer rather than my own.

When we wait on Him, our future can be secure. When we wait on Him, we learn. We are strengthened, and, quite often, we are transformed. When we wait on Him and His timing, He is able to work on our character and the molding of our heart and mind.

godlifehappywife.blogspot.com

So, if you find yourself in the waiting room of life today, maybe take a moment away from the emotions and struggles, and breathe. Look to heaven, and ask Him to help you through it. He may not bring an immediate desired answer, but I can guarantee you that when you put your hand in His, you will grow deeper through the wait.

“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!Psalm 27:14

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