Day 9:  About Patience

From Touching the Clouds: Encouraging Stories to Make Your Faith Soar

Patience is one of the hallmarks of Christ-like character, but it is one of the most difficult qualities to apply in our own lives. Trials and patience go hand in hand according to James 1: 2-4. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (NASB).

In his book, God Isn’t in a Hurry, Warren Wiersbe suggests, “When we find ourselves in a difficult situation, most of us pray, ‘Father, get me out of this!’ If nothing happens immediately, then we pray, ‘Father, when will I get out of this?’ But what we ought to be praying is, ‘Father, what should I get out of this?’ There is purpose in trials, and even discouraging days can be excellent teachers of spiritual lessons that we could learn no other way.”

Waiting helps us develop empathy. When we are forced to wait on the Lord, we quickly find that others have been or are in similar places. If everything happened just as we wanted it to, we would not have the opportunity to look beyond our own selfish interests. Touched with the hurts of others, our ability to relate to them is more sharply defined. When God does meet our need, we are in a position to encourage someone else and tell that person how He came through for us.