Remove Promptly

Okay, I am behind in blogging but this came to me tonight and I decided to share.

Brad has been out of town since Monday so I have been home with the boys alone. I was trying to get some laundry done today and things have gotten in the way.. take Todd to school, feed the baby, eat lunch, pick Todd up from school, do homework.. you get the point! I had a new jacket in the load and as I was moving it over to the dryer, I decided I needed to check and see if it could be dried. I read the tag and it said "Wash in cold water, Remove Promptly, and dry on low setting. Now, I have seen these words frequently but I had to laugh because today promptly was not going to happen. Then, I started thinking about how many times I would like to be removed promptly and it doesn't happen. Sick- remove promptly, no job- remove promptly, bad economy- remove promptly, depression- remove promptly, pain- remove promptly, death- remove promptly. You get the point. There are many times in life I have wanted and will want God to remove me promptly. However, he laughs and says, not today. Because just like me today, there are things that are still to be done. I need to be taught compassion, patience, trust, faith, joy, and love. It was then that I was drawn to these scriptures..

2 Thessalonians 1:3-5 (New International Version)
3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

James 1:1-3 (New International Version)
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

1 Peter 1:5-7 (New International Version)
5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Some of these verses are very hard! I am still striving to get to the point where I count it as "pure joy" and thanking God for not removing promptly!