Summer vacation. Christmas morning. College acceptance letters. A girl’s life is full of drawn-out anticipation. It can be fun to look forward to things, but might your girl’s happiness be wrapped up in the waiting game?

God invites us to live each day joyfully. To choose joy is to live every day in the hope of Christ, rather than in earthly things and circumstances.

Waiting can test her patience, even her faith. But times of difficult anticipation can result in incredible growth. The Book of James instructs us: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

Listen to the Raising Godly Girls Minute with Patti Garibay: