The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Ecclesiastes 7:8 NIV
It's so hard to be patient. Waiting is difficult. It can cause you to start to doubt and question; grow weary and tired. It can be long and painful at times. There are lots of ups and downs. But friend, it is so worth it.
I'm just like anyone, I hate being patient. But I can say that I've definitely grown to be better at it. It wasn't easy and there is still lots of room to grow, but being patient makes the waiting lighter to carry.
There is a sense of acceptance that comes with being patient. The rush to get where you want to be starts to slow down until you are content with your placement for the time being. I'm not saying you give up and stop working hard, but I'm saying that being patient allows more room for stillness and slower results.
It's okay to not be where you wanted to or thought you should be because ultimately it's not in your control. It's okay to be farther away from achieving a goal than you planned to be because life happens and that goal might not be truly achievable anyway. It's okay to take rest and calm down because rushing doesn't necessarily make the waiting stop. And it's okay to not be okay.
Patience isn't reliant on your outward okay-ness. It is reliant on your ability to accept where you are while still working for what you pray for.
True patience doesn't change the waiting, but it always changes the waiter.
It can be hard to be patient because it's hard to accept when patience is truly needed. We don't want to believe people when they tell us we aren't going to get where we wanted to go in the time-frame we wanted to get there. However, understanding that God's timing is greater and more perfect than ours ever will be allows for this needed acceptance to take place.
We might still get where we want to go in the time we allotted for ourselves, but we also might not. And that is okay! God knows the when, the where, the why, and the how. He knows when the waiting will end and when it will carry on. All He asks of us is to be patient and trust in Him.