Patience Updated

If you don't know why I'm updating you on patience you might want to read THIS post first.
            The last weekend of October, I broke my I-Phone screen. My warranty on the phone was expired and so I was on my own to fix or replace my phone. I decided to brave the uncertainty of trying to fix it. What followed was a very boring, slow moving, and honestly quit frustrating story that taught me a whole new aspect of patience.
            As mentioned before USPS lost the first replacement screen I bought online. I didn't get the replacement part I needed until mid-November. Ironically the screen that was lost in shipping arrived the day after the second one they sent me did. I decided  that it was best to laugh about that one. 
            I replaced the glass screen and touch screen, but the LCD screen still needed to be replaced. The LCD replacement screen I purchased ended up being an offbrand knock-off that wouldn't work with my phone.  I returned it and was stuck with a faded and distorted screen. I would have to tilt my phone to all sorts of weird angles to read text messages. Friends would call me and ask me to explain my text messages. They would then tell me that what I thought had been a normal text message had ended up being a garbled bunch of nonsensical words because I could see my keyboard but couldn't see what I was typing.
            I found another company online that boasted only original manufacturer parts. I purchased an LCD screen from them and started to wait again. It arrived shortly after Thanksgiving. I nervously took my phone apart for what seemed like the 20th time and switched screens. I turned on my phone, and nothing happened. I tried a few different things and nothing worked. I switched the screens again and packed up all my tools and parts.
             I resigned myself that I probably wouldn't get my I-Phone fixed again. My mom saw that I had switched to another phone when Alicia and I were visiting. She asked me when my other phone would be fixed. I told that it probably wasn't going to be fixed. I followed that up by saying that I had learned that patience doesn't always have a finish line.
            Sometimes you wait patiently for something and it never happens. Moses waited for the Promise Land, but he never got to go in to it. Paul repeatedly mentioned in his letters to different churches that he wished to visit them, but wasn't able to for several reasons. John the Baptist sent his followers to Jesus to ask them if John was going to get released from prison, and he didn't get the answer he was expecting. He never was released from prison either. 
            Patience is waiting for something through whatever frustrations or problems may arise, and not getting upset or complaining. The truth of life is sometimes we wait, and what we are waiting for never happens. Everyone knows life does not go the way we always want it. Patience is being ok with the possibility that you might not ever get what you want. I think that leads to contentment too. 
            As I became more and more content with my phone situation I found myself not having to be patient anymore, because I was already OK with my present situation.  That was good.
            Last week, I had lunch with my friend. I saw he had the new I-Phone, so I asked him what happened to his old phone. He told me the buttons had stopped working so he replaced it. I asked what he did with his old phone. As it turned out he still had it and it was collecting dust in his basement. When he heard my story, he had no problem letting me see if his old screen would work in my phone. It did.
            So for the past 7 days I have had the wonderful surprise of owning a working I-Phone and all the wonderful capabilities that come with it. I hope my phone doesn't break again, but the lesson I learned during the adventure of my broken I-phone was definitely worth the wait.