“And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;” II Peter 1:6

“Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can; seldom found in woman, and never found in man.” This little verse may be funny, but not completely true. My husband was one of the most patient persons that I have ever known and helped to keep me on track.

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Most of us struggle with this attribute. We all want to possess patience, but we want it without having to work at it. As someone has said, “Lord, I want patience and I want it now.”

Years ago, I had a friend who told us she had prayed for patience, but she didn’t realize that the Lord was going to send her Grandpa – her husband’s father who needed a lot of care. And so, we are advised not to pray for patience, because we probably will have a lot of things come along to test us. Tribulation worketh patience.

I read this quote from Joyce Meyer: “You don’t know what kind of fruit you have until somebody comes along and squeezes it. You don’t know how much fruit you have until somebody is picking it all day.”

Our patience will be tried in so many ways, by our children, by people we work with, by sickness, by financial problems, etc. But as we learn to trust in Jesus, He helps us to rise above the fretting and worrying, and just let His peace fill our souls.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you are always there for us when trials and troubles come, and you will give us peace as we leave them all in your hands.

Devotion by Anne Johnston

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