Hope deferred....

I was reading another woman's testimony online today, and she had a line that jumped out and caught my eye: "Hope deferred makes a heart sick." She was speaking of a season in her life where she disliked her job and single life, and while neither of those apply to me, that sentiment of hopelessness (or rather, misplaced hope) does.
I'm being reminded of the C.S. Lewis passage about how we as finite, temporal beings are like fish in a fish bowl. Our concept of time is basically based on the fact that it's always running out for us from the moment we're born so we're consumed with it, saving it, keeping it, delaying it, etc. This speaks right into our current state of mind: we want it our way right away. I am one of those people 100%. Instant gratification goes a long way in making me happy. If I could just lose all my weight NOW, I'd be happy. If I could make Bear obey me YESTERDAY, things would be great. These things take time... and discipline... and God. Too often I remember the first two, but because I'm lazy, I cringe, and I recklessly fail to remember God's helping hand in my life because I'm too scared He'll really help. But what about those times when I do pray, and do ask Him for help, and it seems there is no answer, nor ever will be? It makes your heart sick, doesn't it? But that phrase "deferred" is so crucial, isn't it? I've been seeking immediate answers or results in MY time frame, all the while pretending to ask it in HIS will, never once acknowledging the fact that it could merely be a deferment, a resting if you will. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen. It appears that my faith has taken rather a beating, but wastefully! My heart has been sad not because my hope is deferred but because my faith is misplaced, or at the very least misrepresented. Truly, the things I'm hoping for are GOOD things, and I've felt both self-righteous and indignant at my perceived lack of response. But I'm beginning to see what I've always said: God is bigger than I am, and His ways are not my ways!! I still don't know why he hasn't answered my prayers the way that I want Him to, but I'm a little more at peace about it than I have been in a long time.
I'm reminded of a scripture that a dear, wise friend shared with me:
"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:23-25. Looks like I need to straighten my priorities for things a little less temporal and a little more eternal!