Gateways to Joy

"B e still my daughter and see how the matter will fall." ~ Ruth 3:18 That is one of my very favorite passages in the Bible.  Wise words.  Are you in your waiting season?   How are you handling your wait?   What is your internal temperature?  Just as God was orchestrating the life of Ruth while she waited, He is orchestrating ... planting the seeds ... tilling the soil of our lives— preparing us in our season of wait.  Just because we are to sit still doesn't mean God is sitting still .  We can trust that He is in the back-drop of our lives working it all out for our good.  Bringing forth a harvest in its seaon. "At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." ~ Galatians 6:9

`I NEVER NOTICED until this morning the context of this command in the Epistle of James: 'My brothers, do not blame your troubles on one another or you will fall under judgment.' { James 5:9, NEB}.  The context is patience.  A farmer's precious crop comes up only as he waits patiently for autumn rains, winter snows, spring sunshine.  Anything worth having is worth waiting for.  Troubles are permitted in order to teach us many lessons, not the least of which is patience.  If we instantly assign responsibility for those troubles to somebody else, our energies will go into resentment instead of into learning God's lesson of patient waiting.  The Lord's coming is far more certain than even autumn rains and winter snows.  We can stand firm and patient no matter how others treat us, knowing that in the end our troubles will be transformed. 'The Lord is full of pity and compassion' {James 5:11}. Can we believe that, even when we feel sorry for ourselv...