Patience

Hey, it's Karina :) This is my first addition to the blog, soo... yeah. Anyways, this was a devotional I wrote for a school assignment, and I based it off of an experience I had a couple weeks ago... Enjoy!

Patience

Nahum 1:3a “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power"

Jill sat in Bible Study listening to her teacher, Ms. Jefferson, teach about the Fruit of the Spirit.  Ms. Jefferson finished her lesson and told the kids to come up and write one Fruit they struggled with on the board.  When it was Jill’s turn, she paused for a moment.  ‘What do I struggle with?’ she mused.  Suddenly, she remembered something that had happened to her earlier – she had lost her patience!

“Can you just listen for ONE time?!?” Jill asked her horse, Chance.  Obviously, Chance couldn’t answer her, but Jill was frustrated.  Chance had been a pain for her whole ride, and Jill was about ready to quit, even though she knew she had to make Chance canter left at least once, otherwise he would have ‘won’.

Jill hastily wrote ‘PATIENCE’ on the board and returned to her seat.  After a few minutes, everybody in the class had taken their turns writing on the board and Ms. Jefferson faced the class again.  “Now, I noticed that there is a wide variety of struggles up here, but patience seems to be very common.  Your challenge this week is to PRAY for God to help you with whichever Fruit is the hardest for you.  Pray every time you feel like you’re giving in, and He will help you,” she told the class.  Jill nodded her head slightly and told herself ‘I will remember this challenge. From now on, when Chance is difficult, I’ll pray for God’s help controlling my impatience and He will help me.’

What about you?  Whether or not you struggle with having patience, everybody has trouble with at least one of God’s Fruits.  Your challenge may be loving others.  It may be having joy.  Whatever it is, pray for God’s guiding hand to show you the way through any situation when the Fruit you’re struggling with is getting the upper hand.  The Lord will help you!

~ KRN