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Faithfulness in the Ordinary - When Nothing Seems to Be Happening

Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash


It has been a few years of waiting.

Years of wondering what God wants to do in me and through me. At times, it has felt less like standing still and more like walking down a long hallway, looking at each door and wondering which one I am supposed to walk through.

Since moving to the Kitsap Peninsula, I have worked several different jobs. Each position has taught me something, stretched me in some way, and added another piece to the journey. Yet somehow, after all the changes, I find myself returning to the place where my ministry began more than twenty years ago.

I would like to say that the path has always made sense. It has not.

There have been moments of clarity, but there have also been long stretches of uncertainty. I have wondered whether I missed a door, chose the wrong one, or simply needed to keep walking. Waiting has not felt passive. It has required me to keep showing up, keep listening, and keep trusting God when I could not see where the hallway was leading.

Perhaps that is one of the hardest parts of waiting: we want God to show us the destination, while He is often more concerned with forming us along the way.

Waiting may feel like nothing is happening, but looking back, I can see that God has been present in every job, every transition, every closed door, and every uncertain step. The hallway has not been empty. God has been walking through it with me.

Waiting may not feel like holy ground. It often feels like delay. Waiting in traffic. Waiting for an answer. Waiting for healing. Waiting for clarity. Waiting for someone to respond. Waiting for a door to open. Waiting for something to change.

Most of us do not like waiting because waiting reminds us we are not in control. We want movement. We want progress. We want resolution. We want to know what comes next. But waiting is one of the ordinary places where faithfulness is formed.

Scripture Reference: Psalm 27:14 Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

Waiting is not passive. At least, not the kind of waiting Scripture invites us into.

Biblical waiting is not doing nothing. It is trusting God while we cannot yet see what He is doing. It is choosing steadiness when the outcome is unclear. It is letting patience do its quiet work in us.

Waiting can reveal what we are leaning on. It can reveal our anxiety. It can reveal our need for control. It can reveal our fear of being forgotten. It can reveal how quickly we confuse silence with absence. 

But God is not absent in the waiting. He is present in the slow places. He is present when answers have not arrived. He is present when the timing feels inconvenient. He is present when progress is happening beneath the surface.

Faithfulness in waiting may look like refusing to rush what God has not released. It may look like praying without demanding. It may look like doing the next right thing while the bigger answer remains unclear. It may look like breathing deeply instead of spiraling. It may look like trusting that delay is not the same as abandonment.

This does not make waiting easy.

Some waiting is deeply painful. Some waiting carries grief. Some waiting stretches us beyond what we thought we could endure. But even there, God meets us with grace. Maybe the invitation this week is simple: when you find yourself waiting, do not immediately reach for distraction.

Pause.

Take one slow breath.

Ask, “Lord, what are You forming in me here?”

You may not receive the answer right away. But the question itself can become a prayer. Holy ground may be closer than we think. It may be found in the places where nothing seems to be happening, but God is still quietly at work.

Practice for the Week

The next time you are waiting, pause before reaching for your phone.

Pray: “Lord, help me trust You in the slow places.”

Reflection Questions

What kind of waiting is hardest for me?

What does waiting tend to reveal in my heart?

Where might God be inviting me to trust Him more deeply?

Closing Prayer

Lord, meet me in the waiting. Help me not confuse delay with absence or silence with abandonment. Teach me to trust You in the slow places, to remain faithful when answers are unclear, and to believe that You are still at work even when I cannot see it. Amen.

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