Patience is accepting a difficult situation from God without giving Him a deadline to remove it.
And the amazing truth of this is that God's timing is PERFECT...we never know what unseen dangers He's protecting us from...we also don't know how He plans to bless us. Impatience can be a huge blessing blocker.
Have you ever been in the middle of a situation and had no clue why something so pointless/difficult/heart-wrenching was happening? You know, your suffering appeared pointless, senseless, and undeserved? Well, sometimes God uses adversity to mold us and shape us. Of course, gold will never be pure without fire. If we intend to live a heightened state of existence, we have to be willing to endure some hardship in order to gain wisdom, understanding, and gratitude.
In one of Kirk Franklin's songs, he says, "Some of us wouldn't pray if we didn't go through something." And it's true. When God is raining down His blessings on us, it's easy to get comfortable and start slacking. But when storms are raging in our lives, we cling to Him. He longs to have that same level of communion with us, ALL THE TIME. We should be in that same perpetual state of praise, thanksgiving, and petition, regardless of what's going on. That's why the old folks used to tell us to "stay prayed up" because you never know when you may not be able to pray for yourself. I went through a period this year when I couldn't pray for myself, and to this day, I'm steady thanking God for my mother and my father because without their intercession, I would probably be dead, and that's no exaggeration. God literally carried me through my storm because I was ready to quit.
The funny thing is that sometimes, we look back on our lives and on situations we've dealt with, and we're GLAD that we had that difficult situation or that season of grief. Have you ever wanted something really badly, not gotten it, and then later been glad that you didn't get it? It's definitely happened to me. God knows what's best for us, and giving Him complete control of our lives lends itself to Him covering us, guiding us, and prospering us.
I'm always saying that faith is the cornerstone of my life, and without it, I would be lost. It's true, especially where patience is concerned. Because truthfully, how can you truly be patient and wait on something if you're not even sure that's it's coming? When you have no doubts in your mind that God is working on your behalf, that He is your portion, that He loves you unconditionally and wants nothing more than to give you the desires of your heart that are within His will, then really, it's EASY to be patient. The problem is that too many of us are lacking in faith...the Bible says we only need faith the size of a mustard seed! Do you know how small that is?
That thing is TINY!!! That's all we need?!?!?! Wow...that should be easy. We only need that much faith to have any and every thing we want. Your blessings, to some degree, will be proportionate with your faith. Some folks can't understand why they can't shake that illness or can't get that job or can't find true love...let me tell you something, nothing "unbelievable" or "impossible" is ever going to happen to you. Period. If you believe that your God specializes in the impossible (mine does) then you should behave that way in speech and in action. That means doing things that reflect your faith and speaking excellence into existence in your life.
So, today I encourage you to take heart and be patient. God loves you more than you can even comprehend, and He wants nothing but the best for you. You need only believe that same best for yourself in order for it come to pass. With faith, nothing is impossible!
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