04/12/2024
𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝑏𝑦 𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑎
𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑠 3:5, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ—𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒? "𝑇𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑜. 𝐼𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑖𝑚." 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡-𝑜𝑛, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝑆ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚.
But then came the real zinger. I asked her, "What are some ways I (as your mama) don’t show that I trust God?" Without skipping a beat, she replied, “When you’re not patient, it shows you don’t trust God.” Pause. I wasn’t prepared for that one! Of course, I immediately went into defensive mode, trying to justify how patient I am because, after all, I’ve been waiting for some big things in my life to unfold.
But then she hit me with the truth: "In the mornings, you're not patient with me!" Hahahaha! Ok, guilty as charged. If you’ve ever tried to get a kiddo ready or out of bed really early in the morning, you know that patience gets tested faster than you can say “breakfast.”
As I reflected on her words last night and this morning, I realized something powerful. Sometimes, we find ourselves waiting for things to happen in our own time frame—and when they don’t, it can feel like we’re stuck in the slow lane of life. And let me tell you, that can be discouraging. In those moments, we need to pause and ask ourselves: Are we truly trusting God, or are we leaning on our own understanding?
I’m sure many of you can relate. You’ve been waiting for something to happen, but it’s taking longer than expected—or maybe it feels like it's never going to happen. You’re ready to throw in the towel. That’s when we need to remind ourselves of Proverbs 3:5:
"𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴."
You see, the verse doesn’t just encourage us to trust in God—it calls us to do it with all our heart. And that means letting go of the need to control every outcome or have all the answers. Trusting God means surrendering our own timelines and letting Him work things out in His perfect way and timing.
So, if you're like me and you’re feeling impatient, remember this: Trust isn’t about having all the answers right now. It’s about having faith that God’s got it all under control—even when we don’t see it or feel it. And as I’m learning (thanks to my wise daughter), sometimes trust just means waiting patiently. Even when it's hard. Even when the mornings are chaotic.
As I’m finding, it’s in those quiet moments of waiting that God is teaching us to lean not on our own understanding, but on His perfect plan. And that, my friends, is worth trusting.
“We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us, neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much.”― Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?
•𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡, 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦, 𝐸𝑠𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑎𝑧 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝐿𝐿𝐶, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦.
•𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠.
•𝐴𝑛 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠, 𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑡 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝐵𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝐹𝑃 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠.
•𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡, 𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒.
