Lessons in Patience

Im willing to admit some of my weaknesses/strengths (I think our weaknesses can be strengths and vice versa at times) here:
1) Patience is not my strong point….I also get easily excited and get my hopes way way up when there is a chance of good things coming my way (often it results in lots of let downs…but honest I like the hopeful, excited positive outlook and getting my hopes up and planning for good things that Im willing to take the let down…I just need to find a good balance)
2) I am a very organized, anal, like to be in control of things planner and organizer. If I could I would plan every minute of my life. I would plan when and how big things in life are to happen. I would plan where I will be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now etc. As I have grown older I have come to learn that when others are involved I cant control the plan. But when it’s a plan that just effects me and my choices I can set my mind to and accomplish what ever I want (again I will say this last year of injuries and illness have hindered my success) but usually I get what I set my mind to and work for.
3) I like to be knowledgeable and learn as much as I can and know what the heck is going on and why that is. Being left in the dark is so hard for me.
4) Waiting on surprises, gifts, holidays, fireworks, etc make me gitty happy and drives me crazy
5) I love time lines, schedules, and due dates. I love planning everything to the t…but also love just going with the flow….it just depends on what it is.
6) If I could choose any supper power it would be to read minds and see the future

Im sure there are more I could add.

So why do I bring this up….well its because this whole house hunting process as been a real test on me and real lesson in working on my weaknesses and finding out how to control and manage them. It has been a real lesson in patience.

Here is why:
*We find a house and put in an offer…quickly to learn our offer was accepted and to move into contract
*We then have to handle the process of choosing a lender. Our realtor wanted us to choose one and their realtor wanted us to go with another. This process toke a whole week of trying to learn and find answers (remember this is me…so I had to know everything…and get it as close to as in writing as I could!) and wait on lenders to respond to questions. Yes this was a whole wasted week when you realize we choose the lender we had originally started out with…our realtors preference.
*Now that the lender is squared away it was on to the appraisal…well the appraisal came in low. We were first told that the appraisal was not completed properly and should come up but we had to wait tell Monday when the appraiser came back in to town. (this would be Wednesday…so a good half of a week to wait.) On Monday we learn the appraisal was right and the sellers want to order another appraisal to see if it would come up. Waite a few days to be told the sellers now want to just come up with the difference in list price and home value….wait a few days… so now on to Thursday…we are told they can not come up with the money and need to move to short sale (lets just add the sellers started the short sale process had it their for a bit then decided to list it for what the owed…more then the current value…oh bother. So now we are on to waiting 30-90 days to hear on the short sale. Yes we are under contract and its ours if the banks accepts our offer. But let me just add we were to be closing originally on July 5, yep that’s right. I should be moving into my home this weekend and now its pushed off to who really knows when.

Waiting on closing means a lot of things in our life are put on hold…oh bother….

Can you see why this has been such a test and teaching time for me.
1) Holly cow does buying a house revel to me a lot of things I don’t know and need to learn….but I learned it J Yes I feel a lot smarter now. I would even consider getting my real-estate license and work part time from home as a mommy. Just a side note there.
2) Waiting on people to respond to questions…holly cow that’s hard on me…especially sitting at work bored all day.
3) I have no control over the process. Moving to short sale means to real deadlines just time frames after each step but no set dates…youch that’s hard on me. I cant control what the sellers actions are and how long they take to turn in paper work.
4) This requires so much patience as there is no set time frame for moving now.
5) I can not plan things in my future cause so much is put on hold tell we close. Man that’s hard.

Lessons I can say that are coming from this:
1) Huge lessons in faith…having to rely each day on knowing that we feel/know that 1) getting into a home is our focus right now 2) that this is the right home
2) Huge lessons in faith…that God blesses and watches out for us. He has a plan and he has a time line we just have to trust him and know it will all work out and not be frustrated if it does not.
3) If we don’t align our desires and plans with Gods we will end up frustrated
4) Practicing patience
5) Deepening of faith through exercising faith
6) Learning to lean on God for advice and direction
7) And so so much more

But I did read this amazing talk by Elder Oaks titled “Timing” https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/10/timing

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

The familiar observation that “timing is everything” surely overstates the point, but timing is vital. We read in Ecclesiastes:
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; …
“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
“… A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; …
“… A time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:1–2, 4–5, 7).
In all the important decisions in our lives, what is most important is to do the right thing. Second, and only slightly behind the first, is to do the right thing at the right time. People who do the right thing at the wrong time can be frustrated and ineffective. They can even be confused about whether they made the right choice when what was wrong was not their choice but their timing.


“My words are sure and shall not fail,” the Lord taught the early elders of this dispensation. “But,” He continued, “all things must come to pass in their time” (D&C 64:31–32).

“The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing. If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? The same is true with the second coming and with all those matters wherein our faith needs to include faith in the Lord’s timing for us personally, not just in His overall plans and purposes.” 1

We prepare in the way the Lord has directed. We hold ourselves in readiness to act on the Lord’s timing. He will tell us when the time is right to take the next step. For now, we simply concentrate on our own assignments and on what we have been asked to do today. In this we are also mindful of the Lord’s assurance: “I will hasten my work in its time”(D&C 88:73).

It is not enough that we are going in the right direction. The timing must be right, and if the time is not right, our actions should be adjusted to the Lord’s timetable as revealed by His servants.

Because of things over which we have no control, we cannot plan and bring to pass everything we desire in our lives. Many important things will occur in our lives that we have not planned, and not all of them will be welcome. Even our most righteous desires may elude us or come indifferent ways or at different times than we have sought to plan.

So what should be done in the meantime? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ prepares us for whatever life brings. This kind of faith prepares us to deal with life’s opportunities—to take advantage of those that are received and to persist through the disappointments of those that are lost. In the exercise of that faith, we should commit ourselves to the priorities and standards we will follow on matters we do not control and persist faithfully in those commitments, whatever happens to us because of the agency of others or the timing of the Lord. When we do this, we will have a constancy in our lives that will give us direction and peace. Whatever the circumstances beyond our control, our commitments and standards can be constant.

If we have faith in God and if we are committed to the fundamentals of keeping His commandments and putting Him first in our lives, we do not need to plan every single event—even every important event—and we should not feel rejected or depressed if some things—even some very important things—do not happen at the time we had planned or hoped or prayed.


I return to the subject with which I began. Do not rely on planning every event of your life—even every important event. Stand ready to accept the Lord’s planning and the agency of others in matters that inevitably affect you. Plan, of course, but fix your planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what happens. Anchor your life to eternal principles, and act upon those principles whatever the circumstances and whatever the actions of others. Then you can await the Lord’s timing and be sure of the outcome in eternity.