Asking for Patience
By T. L. Wiens
It’s that prayer that you whisper when the kids are driving you crazy, the sink is backed up and you have a flat tire on your car. “Lord, please give me patience so I don’t hurt someone!”
I said that prayer and God heard it. Shortly after that, I was playing tag with my children while we filled a water tank at the well. It was cold with a light layer of fresh snow. I was ‘it’ and chasing one of the children when I hit a patch of black ice. For a moment, I flew and then came down. I heard the ominous crack and then lay still. My husband rushed over and asked if I could move. No. He tried to lift me and the pain shot in every direction. Something was very wrong.
My son bent over me and laid his small hand on my head and started to pray. Tears filled my eyes as I listened to his heart cry for my recovery. It was almost worth the pain to experience that. As I waited for help to arrive, the cold seeped in numbing me from some of the agony—another blessing.
My husband headed to the nearest phone and soon the ambulance arrived.
God had again arranged things. Our doctor just happened to be in town filling his car with gas when the call came in. He should have been gone away for the weekend and I would have had to ride an additional hour in the ambulance if he hadn’t been there. Praise God!
In the end, my back was broken in two places as well as a couple of ribs and the muscles around my spine torn loose. I was about to get a lesson in patience.
You can’t get angry when God answers prayer. I took the two years it took me to recover to study the Bible and treasure the time I had to sit and pray. I thank God for showing me so much during the time I had while He answered my prayer whispered in recklessness. God does hear and He does answer even when we don’t think through all the ramifications of our requests. But “all things work to together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
