Patience-Hope-Faith-Endurance

Hello friends! Hopefully the fact that my blog appearance is slightly Christmas themed doesn't annoy anyone. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people. I love the Christmas season for all it has to offer. I love it because it means we get to celebrate the birth of the Savior, and I love it because we get to spend time with family and friends, eat yummy food, give meaningful and quirky gifts, and also celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For me it's a very happy time of year.

This year there is much to be thankful for. This year I am celebrating the ways that God has answered my prayers for developing patience, teaching me what it is to hope, and instilling great faith and endurance in His child. James 1:2-8 states this:

"Dear brother and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything form the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do."
(New Living Translation)

As you are all probably very well aware, Frank and I went through quite trial before we were blessed with our sweet, sassy almost-one-year-old. What an incredible learning experience it was! I will forever be thankful for all I learned through that trial. It was a long road. One that was loooong and bumpy. We gained relationships through and because of our struggles, but we also lost them. Our own relationship went through what I can only describe as fire. It felt scary, it felt uncomfortable, it was hard to breathe at times, and it felt ruined. But we were rescued. We were rescued long before our baby girl came into the world. Yes, our rescue took place when we turned from what the world would suggest (divorce, walk away, start new, steal a baby - okay maybe not the steal a baby thing so much!) and we turned toward our Savior. Our fireman. Not only did He put out that fire, but He made things new. He developed character, patience, hope, faith and endurance in me that would otherwise not exist. These are things that would serve anyone well no matter the walk of life.

There has been another area of life where these traits have been groomed. An area that I don't talk much about in general. My job.

Let's make one thing very clear: I love where I work! My job has always had it's challenges, as any job would, but I am blessed to work for such a great company. I've worked at my office for over 7 years. I started out part time as a receptionist and about a year later was moved back from the front desk to the Mail Room where I've stayed. Things about my job have changed -A LOT- over the years, but it's still what you would consider more of an entry-level position. Sure, there have been times when I have thought about moving on. There have been times whenI've applied for other positions within the company. But nothing ever really felt right. My prayer time always revealed to me that I needed to stay patient. I needed to keep on hoping for that instance that would come along where I knew it was time to move on. I needed to remain faithful that God was hearing my prayers. I needed to have endurance and hang on to the blessing, my current job, that He had already given me.

Once again, similar to what I went through on our childless-not-by-choice journey, these thoughts all paid off in the end! I will start my *new job* in about a week. I will finally be using my degree as well as my other talents that were not so utilized in my current position. Praise the Lord!

The idea for this post came to me when I was talking to a co-worker who was congratulating me after my new manager announced my promotion. The conversation caught me totally off guard as I'm sure it would have most people, but it was a great reminder to me that people are ALWAYS watching what you do more than what you say. My co-worker congratulated me and then said (and I'm paraphrasing here!) "you know, this year has really just kind of been that way for you. You waited and waited, and now you've finally got exactly what you needed and wanted". Um, YES! It's so true. No, my life is not perfect, but I am totally blessed. But really, the REAL blessing are the things that God taught me in the middle. You know, the part where all the good stuff happens.

So what's the thing you are waiting for? How is God teaching you patience? I certainly still have a lot to learn and I'm also certain there are many other trials to face that will continue to perfect my faith and relationship with God. But one big lesson I will never forget is this: when my faith is tested, that's when I grow.