Worth the Work, Worth the Wait

When you decide you need to lose weight and begin a diet plan, generally a lot of thought and planning go into it.  After the first few meals, you:

• have been so consumed by thoughts of what you can and can't eat,
• have strained yourself doing exercises you've never considered before,
• have felt a little hungry, and 
• feel like you're being punished because of the meals you've had.  

By the passing of two or three days of sticking to this grand new plan you confidently step on the scale, certain you've lost 10 or more pounds.  But no...barely a pound or two!  What?!?  

You feel like giving up.  "How in the world could all this effort be worth it when I don't see any results on the scale?"  That's when you have to step back and give yourself credit for what you've accomplished and determine above all else to stick with what you know is right to do.  After all, your body didn't get this heavy and out of shape in just a few days.  Years of abuse take it's toll and it will take a while to undo all of it, but it is so very worth it.  

It's the same with the spiritual issues in our lives.  The apostle Paul had an issue that he spent a lot of time crying out to God about and as far as we know, never saw a healing.  However, God can change our attitude even if He doesn't change our circumstance. (Though I am a firm believer in still asking for Him to change the condition we're in while we do our part to see that change.) 

I have a friend that's been praying and waiting for years for a situation to change. As I pray for him and the family I know that they are in the place they are due to their own actions and choices that have had long-lasting effects and consequences.  But I also know they've been doing the right things for quite a while.  

Like me and my diet it takes a long time to see the results.  But they're worth the work and worth the wait.

  “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”-2 Corinthians 12:8-9.