Day 88: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Many people warn against praying for patience, and there is a pretty good reason for that. You've probably heard that when you pray for patience, God brings people and situations into your life that require you to act with patience. Well, God does seem to work that way, but I don't think that means that we should avoid asking for patience. If we are striving to follow Christ, God will work in us to produce patience whether we ask for it or not. If we were to ask, maybe He would give us a supernatural strength and ability to operate with patience. James 1 tells us that patience works in us to produce perfection or completion:

 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

                                                                                                     James 1:2-4 NKJV

There is no doubt in my mind that patience is difficult to cultivate, and I could surely use some work on that virtue in my life. You could say that the past couple of years have really began to develop patience in me, but I learned a lot of those lessons in patience the hard way. Today, it is our prayer that Ember would begin to develop patience earlier and more easily in life than we did.

Dear Father, You are so patient with us! We are forever grateful, but we admit that we often fail when it comes to being patient with You. We did not always act with grace during the period of waiting for You to give us a child. We were tempted, like Sarah, to take matters into our own hands. Lord, we pray that You would give us strength to live life with patience, so that we might set an example for our daughter. Help us to be patient with her as she learns and grows. Help us to be patient with You as we face times of uncertainty. Help us to wait for You to show us Your direction. We pray that our daughter would learn to be patient and wait for Your voice in every situation that she finds herself in. Lord, give her supernatural strength to stand strong while she waits on Your direction. We pray that she would be patient with us as we learn and grow as parents, and that she would to be patient with all those around her, showing them Your love and grace. This we pray as we patiently await the arrival of our beloved Ember Faith.