"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Ps 37:7

I have been feeling frustrated about the progress of certain things I am trying to achieve. God is in control and His timing is best. I know this, but do I know it in my heart, or only in my head?

Yesterday as I shared some of these frustrations with a friend she asked me if I had read my devtional 'Word for Today' (published by Rhema Broadcasting Group). She gave it to me and wouldn't you know it, it was all about patience. The bit that spoke to me most was this: "When you spend time in God's waiting room, He's developing qualities in you that simply can't be developed any other way. When He's finished you'll come out stronger and wiser. And you'll have the maturity to handle what He has in mind for you."

Thank you God. For those of you who are pray-ers you could remember me as I rest in His 'waiting room'.

Time for review

Time to review what God has been saying. He has really used nature to talk to me over the past few days. I have never really noticed before how much winter can be a positive time if we look at it through Christ's eyes. My focus has normally been on how cold it is and how I'm longing for spring. This is not say I am not finding it cold, especially on the frosty mornings, but as I look forward to spring I can see God in the world, and at work around me.

Let me see clearly

Today I left for work in the fog and the fog had returned by the time I was coming home. This made me have to really concentrate on my driving. Once home I was thinking about how sometimes I have problems seeing what is there in front of me. God remove the fog from my eyes and give me clear vision to see you at work in my life and the life of others.

Of trees and seasons

This is a tree outside my classroom. (For those of you who don't know me I am a teacher of children who are deaf.) One of the senior students at our school loves trees. He enjoys standing under the trees and looking up at the leaves and enjoying the effect of the light filtering through the trees. Then in autumn he delights in shaking the trees and watching the leaves as they swirl to the ground. A favourite past time is to rake up the fallen leaves. Today I watched said student shake the tree and wait for the brown leaves fall, but nothing happened, so he began to delicately and carefully remove the leaves. They are strongly attached though and with a look of disappointment e wandered off to look at the trees that have already lost their leaves. He will continue through the winter examining the trees waiting for the first signs of spring. When he spots the first sign of green buds he will run about excitedly telling everyone that the buds are back.

This got me thinking about how I approach the various seasons that I go through in my everyday life. Do I approach things in life with the same love, care, anticipation and excitement ? Do I respond to God in the same way when I am going through hard times? Do I wait patiently for God to show the green buds of a situation being solved, or do I fail to see His hand at work, and just see the cold bare lifeless branches?

Who is the creator/

Today coming home from work I marvelled at the sunset. The sky was scarlet red over the mountains and rose pink towards the south and I admired it and the one who created it. I find this time of the year a blessing, because I'm going to Sumner to work in the morning and often get treated to the most amazing sunrises. It sets my day off to a good start as I reflect on Creator God as I drive along, and of course the sunset today helped me to put aside the day's work and relax and prepare for what was waiting for me on the home front. Mental note to myself: Put the camera in the car so I can take photos and put them on my blog.

Thanks for the reminder God

I was thinking about what to write and decided to share God's reminder to me today. I am trying to work through a difficult situation with someone at the moment. Can't really say any more than that really. After work I was feeling quite frustrated and decided a quick walk might do me good. It did. I was walking in a park when I heard some birds singing. I stopped and listened and watched as they flitted about in the tree. As I watched I felt God saying look at them they are enjoying life and not worried about things. Give me those worries and move on. When I came home I gave the issue over to God for His will to be done. Thanks for the reminder God that you are a good listener and that you can, and do, take on our burdens if we will just give them to You.

Flutterings in the kingdom

Yesterday at church (Opawa Baptist) Steve Taylor (emergentkiwi.org.nz) talked about the first flutterings of a baby in the womb as it moves. Was it a movement, or imagination? If it's a first child then it's really hard to tell. He related this to the kingdom, and if, and when we are aware of the flutterings of God at work.

This got me thinking about past times when I have been unaware of the Holy Spirit giving me a prompt about something, and later I have heard what has happened and I've thought "Oh, that was the Holy Spirit giving me a flutter and expecting a response." If I'm honest I know that sometimes I have been aware of a prompting and have ignored it, because I am afraid of what it might lead me into. Maybe I won't have the skills to deal with the situation, maybe it will take to much time, maybe it will take me outside my comfort zone, and all the other reasons one can come up with. However, as I've journeyed along I've begun to realise that God doesn't ask me to do the impossible. He provides what I need for that situation. So, watch this space as I see and hear flutterings over the next four weeks.