Patience
4/8/20261 min read
Patience is the capacity to trust God as you face delay, opposition, or suffering. Through your faith, you trust God’s timing for His promised blessings to be fulfilled.
When you are patient, you look at life from an eternal perspective. You do not expect immediate blessings or outcomes. Your righteous desires will usually be realized “line upon line, … here a little and there a little” (2 Nephi 28:30). Some righteous desires may not be realized until after this life.
Patience is not idleness or passive resignation. It is “cheerfully [doing] all things that lie in [your] power” as you serve God (Doctrine and Covenants 123:17). You plant, water, and nourish the seed, and God gives the increase “by and by” (Alma 32:42; see also 1 Corinthians 3:6–8). You work in partnership with God, trusting that when you have done your part, He will accomplish His work in His time and according to individual agency.
Patience also means that when something cannot be changed, you come to accept it with courage, grace, and faith.
Develop patience with others, including your companion and those you serve. Be patient with yourself as well. Strive for the best within yourself while realizing that you will grow step-by-step.
As with other Christlike attributes, growing in patience is a lifelong process. Exercising patience can have a healing influence on your soul and on those around you.
Personal Study
Study Mosiah 28:1–9.
What were the desires of the sons of Mosiah?
What was the Lord’s counsel to those missionaries? (See Alma 17:10–11; 26:27.)
What were some results of their patience and diligence? (See Alma 26.)
Write your answers in your study journal.
Scripture Study
Why is patience important? How are patience and faith related?
