Fruit of the Spirit

The month of May just might be the busiest time of the year. It seems like every night is filled with an end of year event and plenty of mandatory appearances to be made. While most of these events are fun social outings to look forward to, unlike the month of December, which is equally busy, May doesn’t encourage the same focus on family time and rest in a season when we need it the most. We are only halfway through the month and I. Am. Tired. Trials and heartbreaks of the spring have my anxiety spinning lately and yet, even when we are anxious and busier than ever, God calls us to be still. It feels as if stillness is what the Lord has been asking of me for the last few years. Probably, because I struggled to fully hear Him the first few times around.

While I sit wrestling with uncertainties, the same verse continues to be placed on my heart. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” When Joshua led the Israelites on the final leg of their journey into the Promised Land, God knew just how hard the task was that He was asking of His servant and I can’t imagine the unknown Joshua wrestled with. However, God knew the glory of the Promised Land waiting for Joshua and assured him that He would carve out the path before him. All Joshua needed to do was obey.

If the Israelites had been too afraid to leave Egypt or Joshua too cowardly to trust that God would equip him with all of the strength and wisdom he would need during his crucible, they never would have received all the gifts God was preparing for them. God allows us to walk through trials so that we can be refined and transformed through the process, growing in faith as we rely on Him to lead us through. Sometimes when our human fears and anxieties leave us feeling too uncomfortable, we have to stop and give thanks that we have help clinging to God’s will for us through the Holy Spirit. God blessed believers with a Spirit to guide us on our earthly walks and talk to us through scripture and God’s character. As I have been praying for peace during a time of chaos and for my anxiety to settle, in the times that I am still with the Lord, I have been led to examine the fruit of the spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

I continue to ruminate on that word, “forbearance.” God calls His children once again to be patient, to be lenient. God has certainly been patient with me, tolerating my misdirections while He waits for me to surrender to His will. Forbearance requires us to have self-control and tolerance with the waiting God has called us to in certain seasons. Forbearance requires us to be patient in the middle of the storm without complaint or frustration. To be thankful He has placed us in a holding pattern while he goes before to prepare a safe landing. When we remember that God is in control, we can be patient with our situations knowing we are exactly where we are meant to be and God is always working for our good, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Especially when it doesn’t feel like it. It is often when we are unsettled that we grow stronger in our faith. When we practice forbearance, we can show Christian love to others, but also gentleness and kindness with ourselves having the self-control to let the Spirit lead us where God calls us.

When God asks us to be patient in waiting on whatever door we are hoping to open, it is often His way of telling us to slow down right where we are. To focus on the room he currently has us in. What work do we need to be doing right now for His glory and what work is He doing in us before answering our prayers? God produces some of his greatest blessings during trials and because He always wants what is best for us, the Holy Spirit instills us with forbearance. When we can find peace in patience through our faithfulness, we are also able to be filled with love, joy and kindness. When we can lean in to the Spirit’s character of forbearance and just be still in the unknown, we can prepare ourselves to accept the promised land God is preparing for us.

Love, Molly

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