joseph

Opening Prayer: You offer us a refuge amidst the trials of life.  May our waiting prepare us to see glimpses of your face, even as we long for the full appearance of your goodness throughout all the earth.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God by Rueben P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John S. Mogabgab)

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-20

Journal:  What do you think Joseph’s waiting was like?  What do you think God was trying to accomplish in him through this waiting?  How can you relate to it?  What is God trying to accomplish in you through your waiting?

Reflection: A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.

     People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait.  They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow.  This is very important.  We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. ~Henri Nouwen

Prayer

Closing Prayer: May the goodness and loving-kindness of our God sustain us in our longing, and transform the desert of our waiting into a garden of fertile expectation. (A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God by Rueben P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John S. Mogabgab)