Romans 12:12

Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

I have never memorized this verse. I have read it on a friend's website, but thought nothing of it. Never mulling it over and prayerfully considering it. Well, I was on there yesterday, reading some comments of people, and my computer froze. All I could see was that verse there in the side-bar. So, I thought, well this is a good time to look at that verse! Because my pc was stuck on it! So I thought, ok, I am joyful in hope, and Hope is my daughter's name, and she does make me joyful! (LOL Joy is Katelyn's middle name, btw). And, yes, I am, or try to be faithful in prayer. But what was eluding me, hiding itself from me was that middle section: patient in affliction. I believe this is where true maturity begins. If I am not patient in the afflictions, then my faith really means nothing. So, I looked up affliction:

1.a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity
2.A pain, disease, or something that bothers you

It has always been these times of affliction that I hold on and hold on, but eventually wear out and fall way too short. I am trusting God to see me through afflictions. All the while, asking God for a joyful spirit, and being faithful in my prayer. I don't want to go into my personal afflictions, but we all have something that bothers us. If we let that thing take over, it becomes what we are focused on, instead of waiting through it. "This too shall pass" goes the old saying. I cannot let everyday bothers get in the way of my eternal goal. It has been my calling since I was a teenager to have a family. My duty to them is to serve the Lord with gladness. This Psalm comes to mind, how my life should be

Psalm 100
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.


And if I live a life of faithfulness, my whole family, for generations to come, will benefit. I am writing things on their little hearts all day, everyday. How I choose to spend those days are vital. How they see me, and how I handle and react to situations and circumstances, that is how they will act, and react as adults, and for the most part as children. If they see true, unwaivering faith in their parents, they will have strong faith as a foundation for their life. If they hear me teach one thing, but not do what I am teaching in my own life, that will lead to confusion and searching, to who knows where? I want to live as David wrote in Psalm 100, with thanksgiving, faithfulness, praising Him forever. It is hard, when everyone around you is watching, waiting to see what you are doing, these are the times to be patient in the affliction. Like Jean Stockdale says in our study of James:

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

Who do I see when I look in the mirror? Who do my children see?