My youngest daughter turns three next month. She is at the delightfully frustrating age where she wants to do far more than she is physically or emotionally able to do, and usually, that means I spend a lot of time waiting for her to “do it all by my OWN!” (Her adorable way of saying “myself.”)
We love to go on walks as a family in the evenings. My eldest flies down the sidewalk on her bike with training wheels, but my youngest isn’t very speedy. Nor does she try particularly hard to go fast on her scooter or her balance bike. More often that not, my husband and I trade off for the very arduous, slow task of pushing her, drenched with summer sweat, watching the other spouse laughing and jogging in the distance. No manner of coaxing, teaching, encouraging, or letting her go on hills will motivate her to do it herself. So a few weeks ago, I bought her a tricycle. I thought, Surely this will solve our nightly struggle! But dear reader, it did not. Now we just take turns pushing her princess-adorned tricycle up and down the hill.
There is no fast track for learning to ride a bike, but boy, has it ever tested my patience almost every night this past summer, along with nearly everything else about this almost-comically-catastrophic year. My patience ran out on day two of quarantine, and that was over eight months ago. Have we ever, collectively, felt so impatient, so restless, so tired of non-progress? I’m impatient for the past and the future at the same time. I reason, If we can’t go back to where we were, maybe we could at least hurry up and get to where we’re going!
This, my friends, is the same tension we feel spiritually. Our impatience for all things to be made new through the restoring, perfecting power of Jesus lingers every day. We long for it to be here soon—Maranatha! Come, Lord! The prophet describes this very longing, set in the hearts of all who believe (Isaiah 30:18–26). And yet, there is a difference between patience from the Spirit (waiting for God’s kingdom to reign forever!) and sinful impatience.
Sinful impatience says, “I know what’s right and exactly what I need, and I’m mad I’m not getting it right now.” Patience says, “I trust the Lord and His promises.” Scripture leads us to the same conclusion: a proud spirit is bound up in impatience (Ecclesiastes 7:8). Patience is grown from trust in the Lord and His timing, convinced He knows what we really need, in every realm and facet of our lives.
I believe my daughter will learn to ride a bike. I believe Jesus will return. There are a lot of things I believe I need or want to be happy, but ultimately, my attitude is more often than not one of prideful impatience. It’s impatience born out of my desire to be in control. What the Holy Spirit provides through ongoing sanctification is true patience. I trust Him with my eternity; I need to better trust Him with each day.
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79 thoughts on "Patience"
Love is patient ❤️ Thank you for sharing
Oh, Melanie. You have described me to a T. Thank you for opening my eyes to my pride and desire to control. I pray that I will lean into my faith, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach me true patience.
i am so impatient and it causes so many rifts in my relationships. i never understood where it came from or why i was like this. now i see it’s the enemy trying to destroy my Godly ground i’m making. my prayer is i would be slower in reactions each day
all in His perfect timing!
this is what i struggle with the most! thank you, God for planning all things out perfectly so I don’t need to rush!
I’ve never considered my sinful impatience before. What a wholly lovely thought to know that the Lord waits to be gracious to us, and exalts himself to show us mercy.
patience changes your whole attitude!
I love, “I trust him with my ETERNITY, so I need to better trust him with EACH DAY.”
❤️
Amen.
Much needed today
It’s taken me years to learn patience and not everything will happen when I want it to. I’ve learned a few lessons this year and patience is one of them. I put all my faith in God and know that things will happen when he see’s that I am ready for them.
so good
I am learning! I need to better trust the Lord in this season of waiting and my every day struggles
I don’t think I could have picked a better time to do this fruit of the spirit study. My life is in a time of particular struggle, especially in the areas of peace and patience. Thank you Lord for being faithful to me!
I am learning in this season of my life to trust in Him more.
The last line is great and so true for me.. I need to trust him with my each day. I am one who always saying I am trusting God with future things but if I truly looking at my day to day I am still working to control the daily things which means I am really not trusting him with my daily or my future. I am still trying to control to much
Love this! “I trust Him with my eternity. I need to better trust Him with each day”. ❤️
❤️❤️
sinful impatience says, “ I know what’s right and exactly what I need, and I’m mad I’m not getting it right now.” patient says, “I trust the Lord and his promises.”
All in God’s Timing ❤️
Amen
❤️
So needed this reminder. Being patient and waiting on the Lord. Trusting in His timing and goodness. Can’t wait to see Jesus again. Let’s watch and wait faithfully friends!
This was a powerful read. It is one thing to know God’s plans are best-and another to trust that His timing and revelation of those plans is best, too. It’s been a very hard year to practice this, with so many things dangled in front of us only to have to hit pause. But His promises are yea and amen-they will come to pass, and there are blessings, lessons, and strengthened faith in our WAITING. God, grow my patience. Thank you Lord.
Just before I did today’s study I got a hateful response by a stranger (scoffer) to a comment I had made on social media. My first response was to lash back…but I stopped and thought no, that would make me just as bad. As I have been waiting to come up with a better reply I did this study! Wow! My take away from it is God loves scoffers enough to wait for them to come to repentance and I am to react with holy conduct and godliness! Wow! Thank you Lord for speaking to me on this last day of a very hard, difficult year.
Reading that we (I) trust God with eternity but struggle with letting him have our day to day was powerful.
Lord help me to be as patient with myself and others just as you are patient with mw
Spiritual patience is something I’ve been struggling with for years. It’s so easy to become restless when we think certain things should be happening in our lives. This was a wonderful reminder that God is control of our lives and we cause more stress on ourselves by being impatient.
I cried reading the passage in Isaiah. I didn’t realize how much my heart was groaning in impatience over so many things. It’s amazing how God knows exactly what we need to hear and when to show it to us❤️
This is such a good word.
I will rest in the peace of god!
Patience. I will wait for God to work his will for my life… my life was upturned this year with being let go from my job in May 2020. I was proud of my job. Maybe too much. I am trying to root the pride out and am using this time to remake myself. God is working on me and I just need to listen, obey, and have patience.
I needed this.
Thank you, sweet sisters. Lifted up these prayer requests and so blessed by all of your thoughts and encouragement. ❤️ I appreciated the podcast this week reminding me that the best way for the fruit of the Spirit to grow in my life is to stay more connected to the Vine (Jesus) since He is the one who grows the fruit in is by His Spirit that lives within us. Abide more with Jesus and more of this fruit will manifest rather than hustling to make the fruit appear in my own strength/flesh. Also very much can see my own prideful impatience being rooted in ingratitude, fear, anger and a desire to control my circumstances. Thank you God for being gracious and patient with me. May I trust You more each day and thereby grow in godly patience, resting on Your promises.
Me too. Amen.
Thank you Maura for your prayers. I was fixing to leave to go to the dentist and saw your comment and was so grateful for the peace that it gave me that you were praying ❤️
Churchmouse, the Lord has gifted you with unique wisdom. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you – I will be praying for you, too!
I needed this today!! I am so thankful for God’s patience with me, especially when I act impatient toward Him! I think I will go do another read through of these scriptures! So thankful for this community!
That last sentence… “I trust Him with my eternity; I need to better trust Him with each day.” I will repeat that over and over when anxiety, fear start to move in.
@Morgan my husband and I are in the same place, over two years of trying to get pregnant. I’ll add you to my prayers. SRT has been my lifeline for reminding myself to be still and wait, the Lord’s timing is perfect and His will for us is better than anything we could ever dream of.
“Patience is grown from trust in the Lord and His timing; he knows what we need in every facet of life.” I loved this reminder to not get too far ahead of myself, to be present and take one day at a time. To pray each day for my daily bread. Also loved what Churchmouse said about the gains from this season of COVID hopefully being greater than the losses. Praying we all can experience this in some way.
Thank your sharing that verse Ana. I can definitely relate. A verse that comes to mind is God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and self control. 2 Timothy 1-7….I share this bcuz I often find that my fear often turns into anger and then back to peace. It’s a constant cycle I am in. Fear, Anger, Peace over and over again. It’s tiring this is what makes my patience wear thin and longing of the day the Lord will return.
Welcome Trish to SRT community. Blessings to you!
This for me is a much needed lesson and devotion. Lately, I have found my patience is what it used to be. Maybe because I can’t get out like I used to, maybe because I’m getting older, or maybe because I have strayed from the Lord or maybe all three. I don’t know about you sisters, but for me patience is one of the hardest fruits of the Spirit with which to follow God.
It amazes me how God’s timing appears to be way longer than human’s impatient perception of timing. With the regular human nature, I tend to run ahead of God and then I wear myself out in the process wondering “where are you God?”. Though I think God shows up late, I need to learn that there is the APPOINTED TIME for everything ( a time to mourn, a time to rejoice, a time to rest, a time to build Ecclesiastes 3 ). Though just like us, there are also 2 ladies in the Bible thinking God is late in showing up, that is Martha and Mary -who told Jesus, Master if you had been here 4 days ago, my brother wouldn’t have died (John 11 the death of Lazarus). However, this 4 days late to them in God’s calendar is still “ON TIME”. He is on time waiting our faith to mature, for us to exhaust all the other options, and for us to have nothing else to lean on but Him. This is extremely fascinating and mysterious to me regarding the art of God’s timing. I pray for greater patience to be granted, for the understanding of His timing, so I can totally rest in assurance, while I wait.
My Name is Trish from Richmond BC Canada.
Thank you Tina for your thoughts, I am new here enjoying the study, I am newly retired and have been struggling with my time ( what to do) I am also a new Grandma ( Nana), which I am enjoying even with the pandemic restrictions. I do get impatient for prayers not been answered ( my husband to come back to the Lord) but I am trying to be an example of trusting the Lord (not my strong suite )
Thank you for a lot of the comments as they have been very helpful and inspiring .
Sister in Chirst.
Jn 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. LET not your heart be troubled, neither LET it be afraid.
To have peace is a choice and it is the basis of the other fruit of the Spirit. The choice is on what you believe/think. With what you fill your mind as we are told in Phil 4:8. On what are you dwelling?
Thank you – that was a word I needed to hear today and everyday lately.
Loved today’s reading. Can’t respond to all, but am Praying for you Martha his peace as you go to the dentist and for the skin cancer to all be removed. Praying for you Morgan and Lauren, that He gives you peace in the waiting for another child asking that your prayers would be answered in His love and timing. Praying for you sweet Audra, So true the fruit of the Spirit brings us to love like Jesus and this is the most important fruit. Thank you Lisa for your words on tTrust, He is faithful, my word this year is Know and in the knowing I can trust Him who is able to do more than I ever ask. And I know He answers my prayers in the best way, His way. Hugs and love Sisters.
Tina thank you for your words. As I’m struggling to persevere through my sons illness, your words speak loudly to me. I’m so thankful for all the women in this group. Thankful for SRT. It is the best way to start off my day.
I so relate to this, Churchmouse. My eyes have been opened to more of the blessings of my life during this pandemic. And the things that have been lost are not so important anymore. ❤️
This really brought back a time in my life, I was newly married with a 1 and 1/2 year old, in a new city so happy, then shocked that my life was suddenly torn apart with the news from my spouse that he didn’t want to be together. Wow, talk about a punch to my ego. It was the first time I felt so broken and not able to make things go how I wanted. But sometimes those are the things that make you hit your knees and “finally” look up and ask for guidance. I had always gone to church, but had never given up myself and control of my life to my savior Jesus! So as I dug in deep and journaled and prayed every day. I knew that it was all going to turn out ok and that I would need to be patient and let God show me in His own time His plans for my life and future, but it would be good if I gave up that control. Patience was hard when you just want your life to be what you thought it should be. So all of you that are going through those hard valleys and wondering when it will all get better…it will!! Practice patience and look to God with your hands turned over to HIM. I suggest journaling those prayers and feelings, you will look back years later and see everything working for your good! For me, it was hard with a young child because you still have to have a working relationship with their father on a daily basis. But God…..you let the anger go away slowly and replace it with Help me Lord, and you get through it.
So many great lessons this morning. I loved the reminder in 1 Thessalonians about God’s timing. He is not slow in keeping His promises. Boy, I can wrestle with that one.
Sometimes what I am impatient for isn’t the best answer. Thankfully, as I get older, I am learning to wait and trust, more than demand my way. We have been in a year of unemployment for my husband. To be honest, it has been surprising in many ways. He has had a strong career and we expected a new job within no time. And here we are a year later. COVID has played a part, but it has still been surprising. He is near retirement but we hoped for 2-3 more years , including insurance. He spent a lot of time doing all the right things, with many leads and I some interviews, but then nothing. A couple of weeks ago I was having a day of feeling impatient with all of this, and then I felt God reminding me to trust Him for what He is doing. He has definitely used this time in many positive ways. My husband isn’t as stressed, and we have had more time together. I am settling into God’s wisdom and provision for us. Some of you know that he also faced a cancer diagnosis this fall. His surgery was a week ago and we got the report yesterday that they got everything! We have much to be grateful for. I am leaning on the Lord for daily bread of late, and less focused on bread for 6 months from now. He isn’t slow in being our provider.
@Lauren we have recently been in a similar season and it is so hard! We went into round two of trying for a baby with the expectation it would happen as quickly as it did the first time…the feeling that were in control of it. When that didn’t happen month after month, it was so hard and we (I primarily) had to ask God “why isn’t this good thing not happening?” and He kept telling me to have patience and wait on His timing – even though I didn’t and still do not understand the purpose of the waiting. Maybe someday we will and maybe we won’t. I trust that He knows better than I – who should I be in trying put myself in the seat of God in knowing what is best. After a year of trying, I’m writing this to you now 7 months along and so thankful for God’s timing knowing He is writing a story far better than one I could write on my own. Glory be to God!
❤️ Please pray for me to have peace as I have some dental procedures and surgery for for a sun related skin cancer on my nose scheduled. I am so thankful for your insights and daily testimonies and sharing.
Thank you all for sharing. I have not posted on here before, but felt called to do that today.
My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for almost two and a half years now. Every month I go through the same cycle of disappointment, anger, asking God, “why not now?” And then trying to be “patient” and hopeful for the next month. We did our second IUI cycle this past month and are in the dreaded waiting period again. I’m quick to tell others that I know God has a plan for us and we will be okay waiting, but my heart does not always believe that honestly. I realized I have been leaning on my “sinful impatience” rather than the patience from the Holy Spirit. I wrote down the line from the devotional that said “I trust Him with my eternity: I need to better trust Him with each day.” In this season of burdens and trials most of us are facing this year, I pray that we can have spiritual patience to help us see the bigger picture of God’s love and hope for each of us.
Jessica, my pastor said something last week that could be of encouragement. He was talking about how the Spirit intercedes on our behalf in prayer so that all things work together for our good and God’s glory. (Romans 8). He talked about how because the Spirit intercedes on our behalf, “we can pray bold prayers.” His mother battled cancer many years ago, and he wondered if he should pray for God’s will to be done or for her to be healed. But he said that he could pray boldly for her to be healed trusting in God’s goodness and knowing He works for our good and His glory. So I think you can pray boldly for your baby and also remain faithful in God’s goodness in all circumstances, knowing that all things work for your good and His glory. Praying for you as well, sister.
Patience is what I am struggling with. And gentleness in my impatience. All of these are so interconnected, they are really one fruit. The FRUIT of the Spirit, not the fruits. I used to think I could somehow work on just one at a time, but they depend on one another, as they should, I cannot have gentleness and patience without first Love! So really I am struggling to Love as Christ asks us to.
I am praying for growth, and learning to daily, moment by moment submit and die to self, so that it is indeed the Spirit who is producing fruit through love, not my own selfish nature.
Thank you Lisa. Your words hit home with me. ❤️
Prior to beginning today’s study, I anticipated a lesson patience with other people but no!! Patience with the timing of God. So good!
Have a great day, girls!
I know patience is doable and Know God is never ever late. We mess up when we do things on our own. Been there done that don’t want to do that again. Patience Faith and trust go hand in hand.
I needed this reminder. In this unsettled and weird world we r living in today it’s even more important to trust in the Lord and be patient for him. I need to ask him what I need today to be a good versing to start that ripple effect. We need God so badly in our lives today. Amen
In every day and every way of this year and with it my deeper dive meditating in scripture I hear the word “trust” being spoken to me over and over, daily. In every passage there is a call to go inward and release…to trust. It’s been a beacon for me and how I observe things that shape around me. Patience is one of those things that’s in the messy middle of trust. To the left of patience is understanding, acceptance, joy. To the right of patience is misunderstanding, anger and anxiety. In the messy middle is where we find ourselves questioning and allowing fear to tap you on the shoulder with self doubt. Holy smokes we straddle a lot yes? Then trust sits over top of all this like an umbrella trying to keep us dry. It’s not perfect. You get a little wet from the teeny tiny pinholes in the umbrella, but as we grow in our faith and trust becomes more and more of a grounding life force we get clarity on “all the things” around us. Pause, reflect and staying present closes the holes and points us back to trust. Learning, always learning. Grace, my friends. Grace.
Thank you for sharing your heart Jessica. ❤️ You are walking through a hard season Sister! I was reminded of Phil 4:6-7 reading your post… “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Praying the Spirit would continue to guard your heart and mind and remind you that God is in control!
“i trust Him with my eternity; i need to better trust Him with my day to day.”
hit the nail on the head with this!!
We are trying for a second child now and the process is testing my patience with God. I constantly need to remind myself that I trust God and His promises and that His plan is greater than my plan, but it’s plain hard some days! Our daughter is 15 months and I’m thinking that maybe God wants us to spend more one-on-one time with her before having another child.
Thanks for this. There are 2 sides to this quarantine coin.
Thank you all for being here, for sharing, for your wisdom, for being in this together to pursue our loving, just, and infinitely patient God.
I just love this passage from Isaiah. The promise of his presence right now! “As soon as He hears it (your cry) He answers you” – not he WILL answer but right in the moment. The “bread of adversity and the water of affliction” are there to teach us. But because of his mercy he is right there with us! He gives us the roadmap! “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Oh I could go on but this is such a rich passage. I just love it!
Impatience is tied to ingratitude. When I’m “wishing my life away,” I’m overlooking daily blessings. When I’m rushing to the destination, I’m not enjoying, or learning from, the journey. This covid season has been both frustrating and freeing. I feel the tension of “how it used to be” and “how long, Oh Lord? “ And yet I have gained the gifts of virtual book clubs with both friends and my daughters, the discovery of new hobbies(my daughters’ influence again), consistent at-home movie “dates” with my husband, wonderfully diverse worship services from churches around the US. I notice the critters that wander outside our home and I’m appreciative of all things deliverable. Bible study and prayer have gone deeper and more intimate. Jesus is especially close. Perhaps the gains of this season will become more memorable than the losses. Let us pray so.
I think one of my biggest areas for growth in my walk with Jesus is trust. My trust was broken by a boy when I was 16 and way too young to be dating (we started dating at 14). It’s been 9 years since that breakup and I STILL struggle with trusting others and especially trusting God. Today I claim godly patience and I wrote in my journal at the top of the page “I TRUST THE LORD AND HIS PROMISES”. Lord, rid me of my prideful, impatient, need to have control-spirit and fill it with patience and trust that can only come from your Holy Spirit. Have a great weekend everyone! Loving this study so much already!
Soo good!! I can definitely get impatient at times. I was very involved in a student ministry until I crashed down, now it has been months of extremely little energy and many internal processes. I used to think how can it get better than being so fulfilled doing that ministry for him and now I know it was just the beginning and God has so much more for me but first I have this season of being humbled. I can’t wait for it to be over, the heaviness lifted again. But he is not slow in keeping his promises! He wants to bring us to real freedom. So interesting how we can both at once take us too important (feeling responsible for things we aren’t, God wants us to be witnesses for him but he doesn’t need us) and still not treat ourselves according to how precious we are in his sight and neglect our needs. Lead us to true repentance God! I can catch glimpses of how freeing this season is and how he uses it to make me more understanding. He is soo good ♥️
The last three years have been such a roller coaster. My husband had major open-heart surgery to repair an aneurysm three years ago. The next year my mom passed away and this year my dad passed away. There was also the birth of my third grandchild, which was wonderful. Looking back I know that there were so many times that I wanted everything to just be done and life to get back to normal, but oh, the lessons I learned. Sweet, wonderful, life-affirming lessons that I wouldn’t trade anything for.
I’m with Tina. In this season of my life, I’m finely learning to slow down and not rush through things, even the hard, bad, ugly things. I’m pondering more, basking in the good that comes from God. I’m taking time to just breathe and to just be. I am finally learning to trust the Lord with everything.
I’m not there yet, but I am waiting on Him, and while I wait I am trusting and doing what I feel He is leading me to do.
Melanie Rainer, I love this. The picture I had of your nightly walks .. I am chuckling! Thank you!
When I was younger, a child and into my 40’s I wished things to hurry along. I was impatient for things to be done, happen or just plain be.. I was in a hurry!
I remember even fast tracking my passing/death so I could be with my daughter, so I didn’t have to deal with the pain of such a colossal loss of my child and the news that my husband was leaving us for another within the same year..
But God..He saved me.. in more ways than one!
Here’s the thing, my journey was not over because I chose it to be! I was not in charge of my life per se, and though I have choice, God has plans and purposes for me, that need to be fulfilled in His time!
I am a Child of God, first and foremost, even before I am my parents, or a mother, an auntie or friend..
Life is made up of seasons, good, bad, ugly.. and we have to go through them, we can’t fast track, through the rough patches, we could miss something amazing, YES, even in a storm.
Patience, Gods patience, has taught me that, running through life, you miss some wonderful things, that what seems like a long road can be worth it as I hold onto Him, and looking back on that road… WOW, see how far I have come..by and in His grace.
Now in the late summer of my life, I ponder more, I bask more, I take time.. more, I stop to breathe in.. more.. I am more content.
The thing is impatience, does not bring joy,and it is certainly a robber of peace..!
Back to my yesterday verse from Paul, these first three words,
..”I have learnt..”, for me it has taken some years, not perfect, and still a long way to go, but you know what? I am not where I used to be.. and for now, with arms lifted and my heart soaring, I praise Him for my journey, for His love, His grace, His faithfulness, His goodness to me!
Amen!
I send love to all this beautiful yet cold winters day❤
Dearest ones, I am sorry to beginning the new devo with responses to yesterdays… I wanted to make sure they were read by the recipients..
I hope you don’t mind..
CHURCHMOUSE: He will NEVER let go.. Amen.❤
TAYLOR:Sitting with you, praying, claiming and entrusting your care to God, and that His peace be with you..❤
LAURA ❤
SHELBY MOORE:God is good..Amen.❤
ANGELA SUTHERLAND: …But God.❤
HEIDI:Praying the Wonderful Counsellor, The Prince of PEACE be with you as you ( with Him) navigate this season. ❤
LISA:❤
GRAMSIESUE:❤
ALICIA GIBERT: Thankful for the peace and calm you have known, and pray it continues..❤
DOROTHY: This season we find ourselves in, is not the best or what we imagined.. But God.. He will see us through, and the months, days and maybe even years that ‘this locust’ has stolen from us WILL be restored(paraphrased)..We will see ‘our people’ again.. In the wait, I pray His presence, His peace, His joy in the day to day of your life now.❤
SARAH G:Jesus said in Matthew 5:9.. “Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called Children of God”
He also said a while later.. (John 14:27) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Sweet sister, it’s there for the taking, He has left it for you, you just need to find it.., do not be afraid.. He is with you..❤
MEREDITH:I am sorry for this season in which you find yourself..But God.. He is right there with you. He promises never to leave you.. no matter what!
Praying today, will be a day of breakthrough, a day of victory, large or small.., that whatever comes, you know God is with you, He envelops you and He holds your hand through this..❤
TERI:Jesus said..My PEACE I leave you.. The PEACE is already within you..Breathe in.. Breathe out.. He is near.. Breathe Him in..❤
MICHELLE M:God is with you.. keep pressing in..He is near..❤
So good! So, so, so, SO good!!!