joy in learning patience in quiet waiting

I have decided to do a little series on waiting - and watching. In two days' time I am going to go away for a few days and not have access to internet, so I think this will be the theme also for my Wednesday devotional blog. And it is indeed my growing edge, and all these posts only mean something for me or anyone else if they arise out of my own growth, and struggle. The other day I was expressing my frustration about various things going on in my life just now, mostly about the kinds of work available or not available, ministry and personal issues. My pastor's comment was to be patient. She was so right, of course. And that was a timely comment that particular day, helping me to stay connected with my theme of making straight paths and moving in a slow and steady way. And that day I enrolled in the courses that help me to feel I will be moving ahead, however slowly. But today was one of those days when I felt like I was standing still. And God has met me in that need. As I went on some errands today, I met contacts from various parts of my life, another supply teacher, my friend at the thrift store, a friend from the business course I took last year. They were all able to connect with where I was at, and reassure me of the slow and steady journey, and it felt good to be able to share, and to have them give me helpful feedback. God met me in them today. And most of all the reading for today has so much, that I want to quote from it for days to come, but for today, from Streams in the Desert, this is what I quote, from her quote from a J.R. Miller, whoever he was:

"Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by? No, victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting. It is a thousand times harder to do than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life. It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away. It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."

So I know that my heavenly Father is watching me, like His little sparrow, and I am off to my mountains of work in the basement, and other ways to faithfully plod on with my many hidden but important tasks to do. I recall a word of encouragement given to me many, many years ago, when I was standing still in those years for a season, " Your time for going forward will come."