Long-Suffering

Where Patience Ends, Long-Suffering Begins...

Long-Suffering literally means to "suffer long."  The dictionary describes it as "patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship." Often times what we come to realize when looking back on our lives, is that many times when we felt like we were suffering, it was really our flesh dying to its natural tendencies - we were being pruned for a lesson much greater than the one that was paining us so.   Its not ignoring until behavior changes, or constant reminders of what should be, but a loving enduring confidence in the hope of restoration and redemption.  Remember that we will never be what we are truly destined to be in life without developing long-suffering.  How quickly we forget what it took for us to get to a particular spot in life and how those closest to us put into action long-suffering in ways we may not have even deserved.