Growing in patience is a vital part of finding peace and calm in your life. True your days may be busy, but when you learn to reframe situations it makes a world of difference!
I’ve heard it said not to ask God for patience otherwise He will put you in situation after situation to practice it. But this concept is not how we should see God. I have found that when I realize my own need for patience and have the courage to ask for it, I have experienced incredible grace to navigate difficult situations. So does He bring repeated situations to help us develop it when we ask for it? Perhaps. But I would more believe that we will walk through those situations either way and I would rather have the benefit of His grace and ease!
I rather think God is to us who we see Him to be. A good, loving Father, or a strict, disciplinary Father. The perception is on our end and we will see Him show up accordingly. “To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.” -Psalm 18:25-26
Pray for Specific Needs
Growing in patience can be accomplished through learning to pray for specific needs. Whether in work or home life, we know people and sometimes we see patterns in their responses. Did you know we can see these as opportunities for specific prayer? Instead of dismissing their responses as how they always respond, rather pray for them to grow stronger in these areas?
Perhaps your coworker always gets huffy when you ask for her to help with work chores. Instead of avoiding her and doing all the work all the time, maybe you can pray for her to develop initiative to be a self starter. Pray for her to have eyes to see what needs to be done.
Interestingly, I find that specific things can irk me about people, but then I find that it is a sensitive spot because I also struggle with it. Often we can use our own annoyances as a mirror to see areas we need to work on. How much kinder would it be to pray for them specifically? Prayer is an incredible tool that we all too often forget to use.
Every Time the First Time
Another way to continue growing in patience is to treat each annoyance you face as if it is the first one ever. I help organize a large event in town and folks often contact me with questions about it. I do my best to share information so as many questions as possible are already answered, but it is inevitable that people reach out. Some of the questions are valid and haven’t been covered. Most contacts I receive are covered in the information I’ve already put out.
In the midst of a busy day receiving texts such as, “which day of the week is the First Thursday event on?” can be annoying. I have to fight impatience and work to have a kind response. This past month I had someone ask me about eight questions, one after another, along similar lines. I sent them a screenshot of the information already shared as I answered question after question. I even referenced “as stated above“, but I don’t think they got the message at all.
Choosing to pretend each interaction is the first has given me so much more patience towards others. I’m certain they are not reaching out to annoy me, so why should that be how I perceive it? Growing in patience in this area has given me so much more peace and a kinder response. It has helped me say – and mean – if you have any questions let me know. Helping with these events isn’t for my own pleasure or comfort, but rather to help represent God well. And if I’m being impatient and getting annoyed, what kind of example am I giving of Christianity?
Thank God Instead
There are always going to be hard things in life. The more we identify them as such I really think the more of them there will be. But what if we flipped the script and chose to thank God for equipping us and making us aware of the situations instead of feeling burdened? Talk about an entire mindset shift!
Someone mentioned this to me the other day and I loved this perception! Yes and absolutely! God equips us for wherever He leads us – we know this. So what if we learned to thank Him every step of the way not just when things went {what we perceive as} well? It astonishes me how quick and easy it is to have a human response to life. Even having known God my entire life and having a sincere desire to live and work for Him!
Praise God for family and friends who help us see things in new light and from better perspectives! Growing in patience is a choice we get to make every single day. Rest in the knowledge that God has a plan for everything and He has your entire life well in hand. This will give you a peace that surpasses understanding.
Until Next Time!
Hope.
PS. Keep reading: https://www.theamericanlady.com/2023/11/22/using-your-talents/