“Be Patient”

I have been getting a message lately that I need to grow in patience. Yesterday as I tried to figure out why the cell phone company shut off my service, I was asked to re-register and then wait. At first, I was told that my SIM card will be turned on within the hour. Since I made a special trip to town for that purpose, I decided to wait in town to make sure it actually turned on. After 2 hours of waiting, I came back to the service center and inquired about why it was still not working. They told me that it was moving more slowly than usual and I was told, “You be patient. Wait the whole day. It will come on. You just be patient.” This is a pretty common phrase here in Uganda. I am often amazed at how patient Ugandans are in general. I could not stay in town all day waiting on my phone to start working since we were hosting our team devotions that evening and one of my kids was at home sick with malaria. 

During our team devotions we talked about God being faithful to keep his promises. I thought, “that is different from the cellular service center.” When God promises that he will do something, he keeps his promises! But it is also true that I often need to be patient to wait on His timing. 

As I was driving to town the next day, I got stuck behind a very slow-moving dump truck on the dirt roads. Because of the rains, much of the road is not wide enough to pass. And big trucks usually stay in the middle to avoid getting stuck. So as I was creeping along the way to town, frustrated that I could not pass, I realized once again that I needed to be patient. 

When I reached the cellular service center, I found out that the reason my phone never started working was that my SIM card was still registered under my husband’s name and he needed to come with his passport and visa to update it. Of course we live about 30 minutes from town (40 when you are stuck behind a dump truck). I decided that I would get a temporary SIM card so that I could communicate until I can get my phone number switched back on when we are both in town on Saturday. This time I waited in the store until I received the message that my phone now had cell service. I am thankful that I do have a means of communication and that God is teaching me to wait on his timing. 

These little things, that take days longer than I think they should, remind me that even when I don’t understand, God is at work. Not having access to my phone or internet helped me realized that I needed more focused times of prayer and meditation on God’s faithfulness. And it also helped me see little ways that he is at work in other areas of life. As I continue to learn to be patient, I am thankful for God’s faithfulness. He is at work and I will trust in Him.