'Mental Vitamin Mondays': Courage, Patience and Peace. Oh My!

I don't know about you but patience is a virtue I was not born with. Waiting on the Lord is something I continue to struggle with. I'm human, and a very imperfect one at that and I find myself saying "I want the answer NOW!" I have dreams of how I would like my future to go, I have my own plans and my plans sound really darn good in my head. But sometimes things don't happen according to MY plans. (which in the end can be a blessing) But I think what may be worse than things not going my way is having to wait for answers. The suspense, the unknown, the frustration of the waiting. Let's be honest...it's torture! It's hard to wait and see how the future unfolds. Especially when you have to wait a long, long, loooong time!

What I have learned is that while patience does not come easy, waiting on the Lord is always rewarding. As I look back at my life I can see how God was answering my prayers all those years ago and how He continues to answer my prayers. Not all of them were answered right away, in fact, most took several years before I received a reply. But I now see that His plan is more perfect than any of my plans could ever be

Although I have countless examples of where God has answered prayers it is still so hard to not get anxious about the future and start having feelings of doubt creep in my head. It's definitely an ongoing personal struggle. But I love that I can be honest with God about those feelings of anxiousness and doubt and He continues to comfort me with hope and gives me peace about my concerns.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart. Psalms 27:14

This verse is so encouraging! It confirms that waiting requires courage and that once we find courage to trust in God to perfect our future He will give us the strength to overcome our doubt, fears and anxiousness of the unknown. So the key to patience, to peace, is to find our inner lion! :) With courage we can have peace.