“Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” Psalms 37:7 NLT

“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:7 NLT

I recently “planted a seed.” No, not a literal seed. But I sent out a small thing that I hope will bring back a harvest. That seed is surrounded by prayer. How and when will God answer that prayer and what should I do while I’m waiting?

Another seed: I finally wrote a book! Years ago, God gave me the seed of an idea as I prepared a sermon. It took a while for me to plant that seed in writing and then for the seed to germinate as I developed the ideas. Now, I’ve begun to see sprouts and am learning how to tend the seed for growth. Soon, the plant will be developed and bear fruit. The book will be published before the end of 2024. I am planning for December 1st. If you would like to receive email alerts about the book, click here.

Are you waiting for a harvest, too? What can you do while waiting for an answer? If you have planted a seed of prayer or action, there are things you can do while you wait.

Work. Being still before the Lord does not mean you plant yourself in a chair and stay there until the answer comes. It doesn’t mean you stare at the seed until you see a sprout. Being still before the Lord means you quiet the inner need to make something happen. It means you step back, open your hands, and let Him lead the way.

In the meantime, you work.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36 NIV

Are you in a waiting season? Yeah, me too. Sometimes it feels like forever when you are waiting for something. God has made us to crave resolution. Maybe it’s so that we long for heaven. Whether it’s an unresolved chord, a fractured relationship, an incomplete sentence, or a situation in progress we naturally bend toward the resolution. We want to skip to the end, play the chord, fix the relationship, finish the sentence. But life doesn’t work that way, does it? You and I are in good company, though. How many times do the psalms ask God, “How long, Lord?”

So, what do we do while we are waiting? We persevere. We keep living. We keep hoping. We keep looking to God. Easy to say. Not easy to do, right?

So, here are a few tips for waiting well. I need them just as much as you do!

September 12, 2026

This is Not Forever

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

As I tearfully opened the sodden boxes of our stored belongings, wondering what was ruined, a verse came to mind,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

We were temporarily living with my parents, and our stuff was stored in Tom’s parents' garage. They had a plumbing issue in their bathroom above the garage, causing a leak that soaked several of our boxes and other items, including our mattress. We weren’t sure what was salvageable.

That period of time was already difficult. We were waiting for a job to open up and unsure how long that would take, how long we would be living with my parents, how long our stuff would be stored. Both sets of parents had been patient, loving, and gracious. There was no one to blame for the water damage. Sometimes things just happen.

But when that verse popped into my brain, it completely changed my perspective on going through the damage. The tears didn’t stop. There was some mourning and disappointment. But at the same time, there was hope. This was temporary. These things were just things. What really mattered was how I responded. I could choose an eternal perspective. I could choose to treasure Christ more than an earthly possession.

As it turned out, very few of our things were unsalvageable, and insurance more than covered anything that was lost. But the eternal perspective I gained is a treasure that I still carry. That simple shift helped me through the three and a half years of living in the in-between.