As Millennials, we are accustomed to getting everything we want with the click of a button. With one click on Amazon, we have ice cream and batteries at our door. With one touch on our phone, we can see what every single one of our friends is doing on a Saturday night. With one swipe, we have date for next weekend. Everything we want is at the tip of our finger tips. While this instantaneous satisfaction may serve us well, it’s destroyed our patience; it’s stunted our ability to wait for what is next.

Currently, I am in a stage of life where I have my first real job fresh out of graduate school and my first real debt hanging over my head. Probably every other day I ask myself if my education was actually worth all the trouble. As I learn to market myself and my business while working two other side jobs, I find myself asking God when it will all settle. I’m waiting for a moment of relief. I’m waiting for God to give me a full caseload of clients; I’m waiting for him to give me affirmation in the path I have chosen. It’s during this waiting when I become agitated at God, which usually turns into me being agitated at my friends and family.

Since I decided to write about patience and Millennials, the topic has flooded many of my conversations. My church this past week focused on this exact topic—persistence in the waiting. In my house church, we asked the question, “Why is it important for us to persistently pursue God in the waiting?” The conclusion I have come to is that The Lord does his best work in the waiting period. He refines us into who we were made to be during the process of expecting. I know this from reading The Bible. Jesus did not begin his ministry until he was 30-years-old. The Lord waited 25 years before giving Sarah a child, and God kept Joseph separated from his family for years, before God used him to help his family. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because his promises do not include our time line. His promises do not include our plan. When we trust God in the midst of the waiting and continue to pursue Him, we allow him to work on our behalf.

So how do we learn patience? For the last few years, I have been clinging to the idea of Daily Bread. My personality is to perform and achieve. The lie I believe from Satan is that what I do is tied to my worth. If I do not see fruit from my work, I am a failure in the eyes of people and God. My daily prayer is for The Lord to give me His Daily Bread, not the bread I believe I need to have to be successful. On the days I pray this prayer, I see God more. I see him working in the lives of others; I feel him molding me into the person he wants me to be. Slowly and divinely, He is piecing me together. He is preparing me to accomplish His glory and His purpose.