Patience

If you pray for patience, be prepared for your circumstances not to change. Sound a little off? Let me explain.

In order to truly grow in patience...I have to practice it. And there's no need for patiently waiting unless I'm in a non-changing holding pattern. So when God wants me to learn patience...He doesn't go about it by immediately changing my circumstances and giving me the thing(s) that I'm praying for. Instead, He sits me in a corner and says, "wait".

Now here's the tough part. Being patient doesn't change the length of the wait, the details of the circumstances, or bring about any outward reward. Practicing patience only changes me, my attitude, and my outlook. Being patient doesn't mean giving up on something either. So many times it's easier to get tired of waiting and just say, "Oh well...I'll just forget about it and move on to something else". That's not patience...that's not standing still...that's just moving on.

Instead, patience is standing right in front of the thing you're waiting for with an attitude of hope and courage without questioning God's integrity. It's allowing God to make you while you wait. It's His desire for us.

Romans 5:3-5
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.