My Constant Struggle With Patience

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”

It is often easy for me to forget, in my constant struggle with patience, that God is always listening to me.

The natural inclination of the human heart is to want to be like God. It’s the story of Adam and Eve, repeated over and over again throughout history. Humans thought they knew better than God, and inevitably, usually as a consequence of their impatience, regretted it because no one knows better than God. This state of our heart is what makes patience so incredibly difficult for us. I would argue it is one of the hardest fruits of the spirit to practice, because it goes against everything in our nature. We want control. We want to do things in our timing. Waiting is HARD. Practicing patience is even harder.

However, the mindblowing, amazing reality is that the Lord of the universe HEARS our cries. He is always listening, always knowing, and always loving us. Sometimes He doesn’t act in the timing we see as right, however God is ultimately perfect and ultimately wise and will act in the timing that is most beneficial for us. Having patience and trusting the Lord in those situations is hard, but it shows our faithfulness.

God showed us the ultimate patience in waiting for us to turn from our sins and accept Him as Lord. We have a perfect example of patience living inside of us, in the form of the Holy Spirit. We need to trust in God’s timing knowing his sovereignty. In the meantime, know that the bible tells us God is listening to us and hearing us. We can rest in his peace and contentment. We too, can wait patiently for the Lord resting in His peace and contentment, knowing the ultimate outcome is for our good.

Celina Vazquez is a Virginia native, now a third year student at Western University in London, Ontario studying English.  She loves serving in campus ministry, teaching the Bible to other people, and spending summers working with kids at Forest Cliff Camp.