Patience....

While folding a mountain of clothes, I heard a song on the radio, that I heard before, but I listened more intently to the lyrics because they are so pertinent to what is on my heart now...John Waller's "While I'm waiting".....here are some of the lyrics below...

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

Patience...ugh, hearing the word just conjures up visions of sitting in Atlanta traffic, being stuck behind a slow driver on the road, a person who can't make up their mind, or waiting for that next big break. As you can guess patience has NEVER been one of my strong suits....but it gives the Lord an excellent avenue in which to mold me into the image of His Son....while John Waller's song reminded me of being patient and waiting on God, having a baby to me has been the biggest test of patience in my life.
Recently, when it is time for Caylan to go to bed, after our night time routine, her eyes are closed and she is breathing heavily, I lay her down in her crib and head downstairs. Ten minutes later as I'm taking a bite into my dinner, I hear a wail on the monitor. I head up to her room and there she is covers kicked off, staring at me wide awake with a gummy smile...the same child that couldn't keep her eyes open 10 minutes ago!! Unfortunately, I get impatient with her after trying for a few minutes to get her back to sleep and say, "Caylan I know you are tired, go to sleep, please (with an impatient tone)" and sometime have to call in for reinforcements (i.e. her dad) to finally get her to sleep for the night. But this morning I thought wow, God is using something as simple as getting my daughter to sleep to rid me of my sinful impatient nature!! How omniscient is that!!
Impatience, I know is a thing that is holding me back from possibly pursuing my future endeavors. God will continue to test me until I wait contently and peacefully, on His direction for my life and improve my patience in general. But as the song states we are not to wait without anticipation of the door God will open or be idle while we wait, but we should wait singing God's praises and worshiping Him (reading His Word and prayer are key), doing works that glorify Him, remain confident in God's promises. So as nighttime draws near, I will remember that God will continue to test my patience with a simple thing like putting Caylan to bed before He opens other doors that require even more patience from me.