Colossians 1:11,12- We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. (From “The Message” translation.)
“Mama, are we there yet?”
Those are words every parent has heard!
We humans are an impatient sort, aren’t we? We want to do it NOW, have it NOW, see it NOW, read it NOW, go there NOW…
NOW, NOW, NOW!
We could all use a heavy dose of patience, couldn’t we?
My long-time prayer partners could tell you that I have been asking them to pray for me in this area for years. I’m not there, yet, but I’m getting closer…
In these two verses from Colossians, we are reminded that patience is not just gritting our teeth and bearing the “waiting” for the answer to a prayer, for something to take place, or the end of suffering to come at last. That’s not the kind of patience God wants for us. “Grinning and bearing it” isn’t the way to live the victorious life in Christ.
No, our Heavenly Father wants us to experience the glorious strength that He offers because we will then be able to endure what often is (or seems to be) the unendurable.
But, it doesn’t end there because He offers more than just the ability to wait. He promises the kind of patience that spills over into joy.
That’s amazing. That takes us beyond the enduring and straight to the abundant life He has for us—that bright and beautiful life that begins when you come to know Him as Savior and continues on into eternity!
So, how do we get to that place of joy? Ah, let’s look at that verse again…it says that He will bring us to that place by HIS STRENGTH—not ours.
It’s not about us and what we do.
It’s all about trusting HIM—tapping into His “glory-strength.”
Is there something in your life that seems unendurable? My prayer for you, today, is that you will trust Him to strengthen you and bring you to that place of patience that “spills over into joy.”
Brenda
spiritualsnippets.com 
Thanks, Brenda! I needed to read this. I’ve been trusting God for many things that are going on, but this last one has me struggling. Your post helped me realize that the number of problems doesn’t matter, but our response does. And I choose to trust God! Thank You, Lord, for always being with me!
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