I drank three quarts of beer a day for fourteen years. I knew I’d never change – I tried too many times. It was hopeless.
It’s been 27 years since my last beer.
My wife Brenda suffered anxiety and lack of peace for more than a decade. She was a peace-less Christian.
She’s been experiencing the peace and rest of Jesus for fifteen years.
She prayed for ten years for me to believe in Jesus. This month makes 25 years since I believed.
Five years ago the Nester’s family had $150,000 in business debt. Hopeless. Today she’s debt free and just bought a little farm.
One family in the Bible was about as dysfunctional a train wreck as a family could be. Murder. Adultery. Rape. They were Jacob’s kids. The twelve tribes of Israel. The family Jesus came from.
Patience is not weenie wishing and hoping. Patience is not pretending.
Patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us
– Henri Nouwen
Because I see these kinds of things God does over time, I can be patient.
I know what can happen and how things can change, no matter how it looks now.
Seen any little hidden things manifested in your family through patience?
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A Family Like Yours is 31 Days of encouragement to help you appreciate, influence, and love the family you have (no matter what).
This is day 4.
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