13 - Autumn '16

A Lesson in Patience

I know, I know... I'm meant to be all about this 'patience' thing, especially since I've named my entire blog after the longing sort of patience we are to emit as we wait for the LORD. 

Thankfully it is not me but the Spirit of God who makes any emanating patience a reality.

 He is so gracious to be everything I need and more.

Lake Waldo, OR

This has been a very interesting season for me... I've been very alone, very adult, and learning a new thing just about every hour. I've been through training to become a volunteer firefighter, and have been taking three college classes this semester, one of which was the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) program and was worth 7.5 units.  (That's a lot, in case you don't speak college.)

And I graduated!! Woohoo!!!!
SR and I worked like crazy to pull it off... though I'm pretty sure it's only because God wants it to happen for some reason.








SR is so fantastic. She's a wonderful sister in the LORD, she is passionate about her goals, and she is the opposite of me when it comes to personality.        :)

Joj helping to wash the grapes

Another couple of events this fall:

I made grape juice for the first time! From actual grapes!
And I turned 22!

I felt quite creative... (there are two 2's and they make a heart!)

SM (my dear mentor)> and I got to attend a women's conference in October in the MOST beautiful corner of creation I've ever been in. 

The falls!! I was right there ^^^^^!!!!!!!!!

Richardson Springs, CA

So to summarize: I've been terribly busy. 

Amidst all of the wonderful things have remained the difficult. Not to throw a "pity-party" as my Mama would say, nor to brag, but simply to remember, and to move on. I am doing things I never would've considered doing as a child/teenager, and in truth would have hated, and I now love them. There are new friends and old who encourage me - from/with whom I am always learning new and richer lessons.


The bitter things come in the form of old, rusty daggers and also like new, painful sparks that will die out in a moment. But constantly, patience is one of the few keys to success. Patience for the time it will take to learn another lesson, one which I could've avoided learning had I not made a foolish mistake. Patience for the time it takes to foster an acquaintanceship into a friendship. Patience for the time when a tree will grow it's first leaves. Patience for God, when He withholds the things which my heart longs for most.


But in order to even get this patience, along with the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, I must invite Him into my life. And this is the biggest lesson - the one I am ever prodded with yet never learning: 

He before me. 

His GLORY above my petty wants. 

His Holy Spirit empowering my lifeless body.

God, KING OF ALL creation, is bigger than this story, and yet He hand-wrote it.

Go and tell it, shout it, from the mountaintops.