Mission: Urban » Patience http://www.missionurban.org/blog Team: La Plata Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:29:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 If Everything Only Worked Out The Way I Wanted It To……. http://www.missionurban.org/blog/2009/09/08/if-everything-only-worked-out-the-way-i-wanted-it-to/ http://www.missionurban.org/blog/2009/09/08/if-everything-only-worked-out-the-way-i-wanted-it-to/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:09:52 +0000 Tara http://www.missionurban.org/blog/?p=625 I never realized how impatient I was firstly, until I had kids…..and secondly, until I moved to another country.  God has used this journey to grow me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be grown.  He’s teaching me patience in waiting for things like hot water, heat, running water, electricity, our internet to be better, a phone line, our VW van to be fixed, water in our place from the rain and then mold growing.  I come from a place where all those are expected to work all at the same time or could easily be fixed.  Things just don’t work out that way here…..I live in a different country….with different values and different infrastructure and I have to adjust to that.  It’s been a tough and stressful and exhausting adjustment, but God is always faithful and has taught me to be thankful for the things that DO work while waiting for things that DON’T work TO work.  And then I’m also thankful for God’s patience with me when I have a day filled with self-pity and selfish complaining.  And then he reminds me why I’m here and how I got here.  He brought me here with a team and has provided everything we’ve needed to be here.  He’s working in people’s hearts here to bring them to HIM to gather HIS church and I get to be a part of it………….it’s a privilege.  I still have a long way to go on this journey, it’s a daily battle of obedience in prayer and obedience in my thoughts and obedience in my actions…….it’s a long journey that is only leading me closer to humility and service to My Jesus.

]]> http://www.missionurban.org/blog/2009/09/08/if-everything-only-worked-out-the-way-i-wanted-it-to/feed/ 0 I’m Not Just Here to Learn Another Language http://www.missionurban.org/blog/2008/10/14/im-not-just-here-to-learn-another-language/ http://www.missionurban.org/blog/2008/10/14/im-not-just-here-to-learn-another-language/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:13:06 +0000 Tara http://www.missionurban.org/blog/?p=405 Since becoming a parent, I have learned how impatient I am and with that impatience comes a lack of self-control.  God has been teaching me extra doses of His Grace in these two areas.  They go hand in hand with parenting and also language learning.  These two things take up all of my day, so I feel like my patience is always being stretched.  I am often impatient when one of my kids whines and complains without words to explain to me their thoughts or feelings.  In turn, when I’m trying to get out what I mean during my Spanish class, my teacher waits patiently while I try to communicate with her.  God also waits patiently for me while I pray and more fully understand his work in my life.  He’s reminded me of his patience with me and my teacher’s patience with me.   God’s grace is so evident as I pray for self-control to listen and try to understand the needs of my kids and his grace is evident as I patiently wait for them to talk to me.   I think God brought me to another country not just to learn another language but to teach me more fully His grace in parenting.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldy passions, and to live self-controlled, upright lives in this present age. “  Titus 2:11-12

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