Practicing patience is a trial I get to lean into over and over again. Having young adult children brings new challenges. They make their own decisions. They move far away, so far that you can’t get to them when they are hurt.

Getting the phone call that he had been in the emergency room because of his heart, and he’s three hours away by plane sent me into a tailspin of worry. I was ready to jump on a plane. Was this a complication of his congenital heart disease? Was this something new?

A visit to the cardiologist was scheduled for the following week. I assumed they would run all the tests and get a definitive answer as to what was going on. Nope. They repeated the EKG and and scheduled the remaining test over the next couple of months. I did not handle that news well. Why are we waiting? Practicing patience suddenly felt impossible and simply wrong.

While the cardiologist felt this was standard of care, I wanted a new doctor. Actually, I wanted him to come home and see the cardiologist that has followed him since he was two weeks old. Instead, I wait.

^2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. ^5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:2-8 MSG).

While I wait, as I am still practicing patience, I pray. I recruit others to pray. I try to refrain from the worry type of prayers although they sneak in from time to time. I hold the promise that God loves to help, and I ask boldly and believingly for complete healing. It does bring comfort in the midst of this trial.

How are you at practicing patience? Do you pray boldly or worry type prayers? Share your experience here and breathe life and bring hope to others.