Praying For Patience
Lately I’ve just hit the wall: NO MORE PATIENCE.
Some of you may know that we are in the queue to adopt a baby from China. We’ve been “logged” in since November 2005 but it took years and years and years to get to that point, not to mention lots of money, paperwork, doctor visits, IVF and domestic adoption failures, you name it. All along, I’ve prayed for patience. “Lord, please give me patience.” And He did. Lots of it. Praise Him for all the patience he bestowed upon little ol’ me! As we got closer to getting our referral the wait extended again and I saw that as sign that I had been asking for the wrong thing. I don’t need any more patience, I need the baby! I wasted years asking for patience! I need the baby right now. Please. Right this minute. Baby. Here. For me. Now! I wanted nothing to do with patience. All that got me was a long wait. As I distanced myself from praying for patience it was no surprise that I became…
drumroll please…impatient!
Funny how that happens.
John Piper writes:
Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of his guidance. It springs up in our hearts when the road to success gets muddy or strewn with boulders or blocked by some fallen tree. The battle with impatience can be a little skirmish over a long wait in a checkout lane. Or it can be a major combat over a handicap or disease or circumstance that knocks out half your dreams.
The opposite of impatience is not a glib, superficial denial of frustration. The opposite of impatience is a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness either to wait for God where you are in the place of obedience, or to persevere at the pace he allows on the road of obedience—to wait in his place, or to go at his pace.
What I’m learning is that God is great all the time but that doesn’t mean things go my way all the time. People get hurt or sick, accidents happen, people die, life is ripe with disappointments and God gives us the ability or the “tools” to deal with those trials. I realize that I need to be praying for the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. With all of these tools, I can handle anything.
Piper goes on to say that, “Patience in doing the will of God is not an optional virtue in the Christian life. And the reason it’s not is because faith is not an optional virtue. Patience in well-doing is the fruit of faith. And impatience is the fruit of unbelief. And so the battle against impatience is a battle against unbelief. And so the chief weapon is the Word of God, especially his promises.
So you battle the unbelief of impatience by using the promises of God to persuade your heart that God’s timing and God’s guidance and God’s sovereignty are going to take this frustrated, boxed in, unproductive situation and make something eternally valuable out of it. There will come a blessing, a strength, a vindication, a mounting up with wings like eagles.”
So, I’m back to praying for patience. I know with His help, I can handle this stinkin’ insufferable wait. I know that He will give me what I need to get through this. I will continue to have faith in God’s timing and guidance. I will pray for that blessing at the end of this very long and bumpy road. I will believe in His promises and I will try to live my life bearing the Fruit of the Spirit and give thanks for all that He has given me.
Colossians 1:10-12
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
When I read the title my first thought was “are you crazy girl!” =))
“And impatience is the fruit of unbelief.” Ouch!
Great devotional girl and one we all need to learn from.
Fantastic post. I have never though of impatience being a symptom of unbelief. I think I would prefer to be worded as “impatience is when you are starting to question…” but that is besides the point.
Thank you for sharing. It must be so difficult.
You know, Terri, just last night I was sinking into self-pity. I hate this pain and the limitations it puts on me and I tend to get impatient at times. I have never thought of impatience as a lack of faith. Thank you.
Great stuff! I am suffering with this right now, and I need to get out my promises and SAY them again. Thanks, Terri
Bless you dear one, I am keeping you very much in my prayers.
Terri: Wow…God gives us the ability or the “tools†to deal with those trials.
Such wisdom here and I will not soon forget this. What a great lesson that our impatience is a form of unbelief. Yikes!!!!
Lord, Today, I ask your hand upon the paper work and the people who are in control of Terri’s baby. Lord, send angels to untangle the delays. Bind the enemy who is stalling this baby’s deliverance. Grace Terri and her family with supernatural love and a fevernt prayer life. I ask these things of you Father, through your son, Jesus Christ. Amen
A very fitting post for me. Thank you for helping me focus on what is important and what I should be focusing on.
Parying for patience..what a wonderful post
This moring I just read ” pary with confidence,wait with patience”
Now when I visit laced with grace, just your title MEETS my eyes, hits my heart, yes, I know it is not a easy way for us to wait for His blessing, but we still have to learn to wait for his timing and guidence.
I will continue to hold your adoption in my prayer. The Lord must have a wonderful&beautiful blessing for your family!
Excellent, and so very true. We all struggle with patience, thanks so much for sharing this I so needed to hear this. Blessings!
Terri, I know this has been a long road for you all, and bumpy too. Patience I too struggle with. But I know that God’s timing is always perfect. Now, if I could just wait for His answers, I would be a lot better off.
Thank you so much for sharing from your heart, my friend. I really needed to read this tonight.
Be blessed today and always.