Love is patient, love is kind…

It rings in the ears.  Just like that other classic saying, “Patience is a virtue.”

After the June that we had you would think that we’d be satisfied to wait on God for our needs but I find myself more and more tied up with worry about our auto situation.  We know what we want, we have some money to get us there, but we need to sell my car to get us the rest of the way.  And once that is done, then there will be the next problem – that of shopping for the van we want, which is actually pretty hard to find.  We will probably be looking in the USA at this stage, and shopping long distance is not easy.

There are two really affordable vans I have found on eBay and I would love to move on them.  However, the interest shown in selling my car has not materialized into a serious offer yet.  It is so easy to slip into base thinking like, we haven’t prayed enough (like God can be coerced by vervency or frequency).  But the reality is patience is a part of discipline, which is really what God is trying to instill in us (but mostly me).

Enter into this my choice of the next book to read through: Romans.  I hit on chapter 5 this morning and unsurprisingly, Paul had something interesting to say to the Roman church on just this issue:

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

My baser nature wants me to jump all over these opportunities, because they look like fantastic deals that may not come up again.  And we could do it – we do have clear credit cards right now.   However, we don’t want to use them anymore except for absolute emergencies.  Yes, the car will ultimately sell, and this would be the most immediate solution, but that doesn’t build patience does it?  Some of the most God honoring things I have seen done are when people do not go into debt but wait upon God to provide and then pay with cash.