New Reminders: Patience

We all face situations that try our patience: the kids are climbing the walls, we’re stuck on hold with customer service, or the line at the grocery store is long and you need to get home.  When times are hard, it's even more difficult to persevere with a patient attitude.  Sometimes we need to take a deep breath and pray for patience, but our frustration level is more likely to have us fuming under our breath or even acting impatiently or being rude. 

Patience is a virtue that we constantly need to practice, practice, practice.  Remaining calm is not easy, but it is one of the most important traits we should cultivate.  We especially need to be patient with God.  Psalm 37:7- says “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret—it leads only to evil.”

We need to trust that God has a plan, and that his timing is perfect, just as He is.  We need to let go and have faith that He is guiding our every step.  God knows what is in our hearts and what's on our minds before we even think or say it.  It is particularly hard to be patient when we are waiting for medical news, especially when test results could show troubling results.  How many times have we sat for hours in an ER waiting for test results, or worse yet, had to wait days or even weeks for cultures or biopsy results.  I guess that is why we are called medical “patients”.

Some things we can do, to help while we wait, is to first of all, pray for God to help us trust him to know what is best for us, even if the news is “bad”.  We can focus on our blessings. We can look for reasons why God says “Wait!”.  We can look to God’s Word for guidance and remind ourselves that His timing is always perfect.  We don’t need to know His reasons, just to remember that He knows best.  God uses everything for the good of those who believe and trust in His grace.  Even the worst outcome we can imagine, even if it is terminal in earthly terms, it is a blessing since it means God is preparing us for Glory.  We should pray for healing, but having God’s gift of salvation can help us wait calmly.

“We also have joy when our troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character, and character produces hope.  And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.  He gave us His love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. Romans 5:3-5