Patience Helps Us Find Answers

Nehemiah and his workers rebuild the wall

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”

2 Thess. 3:5 (NIV)



“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

2 Thess. 3:5 (KJV)



We learn patience through our trust in God and through remaining true to Christ. He loves us as we are but wants us to grow in Him. In his wisdom, He provides avenues that foster our growth.

I recently had a need to black-out the windows of the sanctuary of our church. The Easter drama I had written called for the area to be completely dark except for the staging area. Our pastor had seen something at one of our sister churches that would do the task and sounded neat but would require an outlay of funds and the talents of a seamstress. My main concern was for the expense of these curtains. One of the leaders of our drama ministry though we could keep it simple and use plastic trash bags.

One day about seven weeks before Easter, I received a phone call from one of the church custodians. Here’s how the conversation went.

“We understand you want to black out the windows of the sanctuary for your Easter drama.”

“Uh, yes.” (I didn’t know where this was going.)

“Well, the church already has something to do that.”

“We do?” (I was excited.)

“Yes, we found them when we moved into the building. We had to figure out what they were but they fit nicely. We use some of them at Christmas to hang some of the decorations over a window on each side of the sanctuary.”

A couple of weeks later, I met him at the church and he showed me how they fit in and where they kept them. The next practice I used three of them to blacken windows on one side of the room so the cast and crew could see the effect.

The Lord told me at one point in my life I worried too much. I have learned to wait patiently for Him to work out issues in my life, this black-out panel issue being among the latest ones. I am so thankful God taught me to wait for Him to work.