Have you ever looked around at your life and thought, "This can't be it?"
Not because everything is falling apart, but because things aren't turning out the way you thought they would?
Maybe you're working hard but not seeing results. Maybe you're watching other people move forward while you feel stuck. Maybe you've prayed the same prayer so many times that you're starting to wonder if God even hears it anymore.
I believe we have all felt this way at some point, and maybe you're feeling it right now.
One thing I've learned over the years is that God rarely works according to my timeline... no matter how badly I want Him to.
Looking back, there are things I desperately wanted that never happened. At the time, I was disappointed and confused... even angry. Now I can see that some of those unanswered prayers were actually answered, just not the way I expected. Some closed doors protected me. Some delays prepared me. Some disappointments redirected me, and some, if not all, of the pain, taught me.
The hard part about faith is that you typically don't understand what God is doing while He's doing it. You usually understand it later... much later. That's why so many people get discouraged in the waiting. Not because they lack faith, but because they're tired, even exhausted. Tired of hoping. Tired of waiting. Tired of believing something is possible when everything around them suggests otherwise. We can even grow tired of praying.
If that's where you are right now, I want to remind you of something: your current circumstances are a chapter, not the entire story.
Five years ago, could you have predicted all the people, opportunities, lessons, and blessings that would enter your life? Probably not... I know I couldn't have.
Life can change quickly, and God can change things quickly, too. One conversation. One opportunity. One breakthrough. One answered prayer. That can be all it takes for massive, positive change.
So while you're waiting, keep showing up, and keep moving forward.
Keep doing the things you know God has called you to do. Stop trying to figure everything out (because you won't) and trust that God sees what you can't. Sometimes we're so focused on what we're waiting for that we miss what God is developing within us- patience, wisdom, strength, and a deeper dependence on Him.
Don't confuse silence with absence. Just because God feels quiet doesn't mean He's gone. Just because you can't see movement doesn't mean He isn't working. Some of the most important things God does happen beneath the surface, long before we ever see the results with our physical eyes.
So don't quit.
Don't give up.
Don't stop praying.
Don't stop believing.
Faith does not make things easy, but it does make things possible. And if God is still writing your story, then He's not finished yet.
