The Promise of Patience

by Andy Lee

Her voice has blessed my ear and my heart every week for fifteen years.

Some years we’ve talked more often than others, years when we desperately needed someone to hold our heart and carry us to the Father when we could not carry ourselves.

Our voices have gently held the other through death of loved ones, relationships, and dreams. But we’ve also laughed and encouraged, and most of all prayed. After all the sharing is done to catch each other up, we pray.

And though the conversations fall sweet and helpful, the prayer time always releases the truth we need to hear.

As she prayed for me the other day, she hesitated and a nervous giggle escaped.

“Oh,” she said, “Um . . . you aren’t going to like the word that keeps coming to my mind as I’m praying for you.”

“What is it?” I couldn’t resist. If God is giving my prayer buddy a “word” it really doesn’t matter if I like it or not, I want to KNOW.

“Well . . . ” she hesitated. “”It’s the word patience.”

Now normally when I hear that word, I react like everyone else. I’m not a fan. Patience and wait are brother and sister in my book, and nobody likes to WAIT!

But this is the cool thing I experience about words from God received during prayer; they do not burden, but bring some sort of freedom or peace.

And that is what happened to me when my friend told me that God was telling me to be patient.

“I like it!” I responded, much to her surprise.

A Kiss and a Promise

For the first time in my life the word patience grew wings. Rather than immediately thinking of having to wait, I felt hope. You see, if someone tells you to be patient, that means whatever you are waiting for will come. The word wait doesn’t do that for me, but the word patience does.

“I feel like He’s given me a kiss and a promise with that word,” I told the ear on the other end of the cell phone. I could feel her relief and her smile.

Patience

Here’s our English definition:

Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

“you can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross” (Google definition)

I like my definitions better (a kiss and a promise).

But there are some pretty important words in Google’s definition:

• Acceptance
• Delay
• Finding treasures in the dross.

Acceptance brings me peace.

Delay means what I’m waiting for is coming . . . just not on my time table. But it is COMING!

Could their example sentence not be more perfect? I loved it! In my words they were saying, “Sometimes you have to be patient as you sort through the bad stuff to find the good.”

Please remember, the Lord loves you. He wants the very best for you.

What are you patiently waiting for?

I pray this gives you some peace and hope.

That’s what our God is all about.