You have Need of Patience
Tacna Stake 8/10/2022
I have only been a mission leader for just one month, but I have learned very quickly that patience really is a virtue that we all need to learn.
Think about it, in today’s world of “instant everything” this quality is difficult to cultivate because we are too busy being distracted by the “quick fix” and anything to divert our attention away from what is bothering us, and because of this it is hard to achieve sustained growth.
We all want to just take a magic pill to instantly solve our problems, but we also know that this rarely works! Think about all the advertising we see, most offer simple solutions to our problems, and we are so desperate for relief that we willingly buy, and when it doesn’t help, we get so discouraged or angry for a moment, but then continue to look for a different “quick fix”. The cycle is exhausting and rarely leads to anything of value, but yet we can’t seem to control ourselves!
Let's face it, learning patience is no fun. We all have heard the joke that it isn't wise to pray for patience because the Lord will most definitely oblige and send a trial. In the past, I have tried to ignore the whole patience subject. So the strategy I used to endure trials was to grit my teeth and just bare it until the trial passed like a sudden storm. This works okay when trials are short, like a traffic jam, but when facing long term difficulties, this is a miserable existence and a big waste of time.
I have since learned that it is better for me to seek growth and development during times of trial because it opens up my heart for peace and comfort from the Lord and allows me to find happiness in my day to day life--even when things are hard. This is what patience is all about, but it isn’t easy to do, because we are too busy looking for a quick emergency exit!
Elder Todd Budge taught that learning patience makes one consistently and resiliently happy.
Isn’t that what we all want for ourselves and our children?
I have a daughter who endured years of a debilitating illness. In one of the many priesthood blessings that she received from her father, she was told, “Patience during times like this is so hard and yet patience is necessary and you have need of patience.”
When one approaches a blessing in faith to be healed, those are difficult words to hear.
I asked myself, “What does God mean by “You have need of patience”? Isn’t 4 years of suffering long enough for a child?” I then remembered that I’ve heard this sentence somewhere in the scriptures and I was surprised that it was Hebrews 10:35-36 because this is one of my familiar and favorite scriptures in the Bible but I never connected it with patience. (yet another example of how I’ve always tried to avoid the subject!)
It reads:
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
I’ve always focused on the first part that teaches us to remember our prior spiritual experiences so we can maintain our faith through trials. But I’ve totally skipped over the patience part. So I then wondered, “ What does this have to do with developing patience?”
Then my eyes were opened and I realized that God isn’t saying I need to learn to wait and suffer, rather He is saying that, “I need to learn to trust Him-- He has a better plan for me! I need to watch it unfold!” I need to lean into it and learn rather than hide and wait for it to pass.
So the next time you hear yourself saying, “I need patience” change it to “I need to trust God”. Because they mean the same thing!
Don’t we all want to learn to trust God? The only way we can develop this trust is if we embrace and see being uncomfortable as an opportunity to bring our problems to the Lord and ask for His help and direction. This helps us become more self-reliant, giving us more confidence, power, and peace as we go through our lives. Without it, we have no hope.
I have a testimony that God has a plan for each of his children. I pray that we can all trust Him and see a trial as a privilege with growth and development so we can become successful, resilient, and happy individuals, even when things are hard.
