patience patience

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Angela Hunt's latest, Doesn't She Look Natural. Apparently it's hot off the presses!

I'm at chapter fourteen and it's a great book.

But here's what I want to share:

I've already learned something. "Practice Patience".

People always say, "Don't pray for patience!" Like that's just asking God to torture you. I've always thought that a bit of a goofy statement.

First of all, God always does what's best. If I really need patience, I should ask and trust Him to teach it to me the only way I'll learn it.

Secondly, if I really need patience, chances are, God's going to teach it to me whether I ask Him to or not.

But here's the thing I always thought about. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. It is supposed to be in our lives already if we are filled with the Spirit. So why would we even need to ask for it?

As a character in the book says, we just have to practice it!

So, God may allow us to be in situations where we can practice our patience. We may need a lot of practice!

This also made me think about the other fruit of the Spirit. Particularly love as that is something God is talking to me about a lot lately. I have been praying for God's love in my life. Waiting for a big effervescent feeling to take over. But truth is, love is action not bubbly goo. So, I simply need to practice it.

This is very eye opening! It's sorta just in passing in the book, but thanks, Angie for including it!