Thank You for Being Patient With Me
Dear Lord,
Thank you for being patient with me. You call us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow you, but it comes so naturally to me to turn your call around. I too willingly lay down my cross to follow my own self-serving interests. I savor sin in my own life rather than shunning it. I thoughtlessly dismiss your Word rather than delighting in it daily. I am such a far cry from what you created and redeemed me to be and I know full well what I deserve because of it!
Yet in perfect patience, you welcome me with open arms every single time I turn to you in repentance. And you rejoice every time, like the shepherd who tracks down his lost sheep and the woman who finds her lost coin! You patiently restore me, refresh my soul, and set me back on your paths of righteousness. You do not give up on me when my sanctification is sluggish. You do not turn your back on me when I am slow to trust the truths of your Word. May your patience with me never run out, and may I need less and less of it as you continue to grow me in faith.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.