learning patience

So, this past week or so has most definitely been a week of learning patience for me. I have thought in the past that I was a patient person, but this week I realized I had much to learn in this respect.

It started with an email virus that wiped out my entire email address book. And, of course, I didn't have most of those addresses saved elsewhere . . . something now changed. But, I had to hunt them all down again (many hours wirth of work) and then re-enter them. I enterd them all, only to find the next day that the same virus had wiped out my address book again! I had spent enough time dealing with all of this already and now I had to again.

On top of that, I was trying to do this all with a wrist brace on (which for those of you who have never experienced it, it makes computer work difficult and awkward). I just wanted to get all of this done and everyone's email address re-entered and all that back to normal, but I eventually had to just stop working on that and wait until I was better able to type.

See, I have tendonitis in my right wrist and have been told that I'm headed for carpal tunnel syndrome very quickly if I'm not careful . . . absolutely the last thing I want with my career involving computers. Well, this past week I was paying for overuse of my wrist and wearing my wrist brace all the time . . . and not to thrilled about it (just ask my roommates who probably heard more than they wanted to about it).

The combination of these things meant things weren't exactly the way I wanted them to be and there was nothing that I could do about it. I had to be patient and wait until I was able to type again to be able to re-enter all the email addresses I had tracked down.

Needless to say, I learned very quickly that I'm not as patient as I thought I was. It was a humbling experience to realize that . . . and I know now that it was a lesson that God wanted to teach me and He used it to draw me closer to Him.

One of the few things I could do when I got home from a day of work this week was read my Bible, pray, and just spend time worshipping God. It was what I needed to do this week. I had been falling into the trap of my only time in the Word being the time I spent preparing for leading a Bible study or writing something . . . which isn't good. You don't hear God speak to you when that's the only time you're in the Word, because you're not trying to listen to God for you, you're looking for what it says that speaks to the topic you're preparing to lead a Bible study on or write something on. You miss so much of the Bible this way!

At the time, this was a frustrating week, but as I sit here now and reflect on it, I realize that it was a week that God used for His purpose. To teach more about patience. And to draw me back to Him and renew my desire to spend time with Him just for the sake of being with Him. There is nothing more that I can say, than "Thank You Lord."