Patience is an important virtue that allows us to persevere through difficult times and wait for God's answers to prayers. It requires concentrating one's strength and clinging to faith even when being tossed about by suffering. While God's delays may seem frustrating, they are not denials - he is helping us even when we cannot see it and will come to those who wait for him. Having patience can help us grow in godliness and spirituality.

1. Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius. Comte Georges-Louis Lecler (1707-1788)

2. We must wait for God, long, meekly, in the wind and wet, in the thunder and lightning, in the cold and the dark. Wait, and he will come. He never comes to those who do not wait. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)

3. Second only to suffering, waiting may be the greatest teacher and trainer in godliness, maturity, and genuine spirituality most of us ever encounter. Richard Hendrix

4. Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength. Edward Bulwer-Lytton

5. Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears. Barbara Johnson

6. Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally frustrated.... the heart of God is not turned though His face be hid; and prayers are not flung back, though they be not instantly answered. Timothy Cruso

7. Dios tarda pero no olvida – God delays but doesn't forget . Spanish Proverb

8. The quickest way from A to B is not always at the most feverish pace. Dr. Phil McGraw

9. Patience permits us to cling to our faith in the Lord when we are tossed about by suffering as if by surf. When the undertow grasps us we will realize that we are somehow being carried forward even as we tumble. We are actually being helped even as we cry for help. Neal A. Maxwell

10. The principal part of faith is patience. George MacDonald

11. He may delay because it would not be safe to give us at once what we ask: we are not ready for it. To give before we could truly receive, would be to destroy the very heart and hope of prayer, to cease to be our Father. The delay itself may work to bring us nearer to our help, to increase the desire, perfect the prayer, and ripen the receptive condition. Edward Bulwer-Lytton

12. God often permits us to be perplexed so that we may learn patience. T.J. Bach

13. Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, ‘ Til you find your dream. Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960)