When the Answer is "Not Yet"

🌞 Holy Moments in Ordinary Days: A Summer Reflection Series

Week 6

There’s a kind of waiting that doesn’t get talked about enough. Not the dramatic, edge of your seat kind. But the quiet, day after day kind.

The kind that has you refreshing your email to see if that job application finally got a response. The kind that pops up when you’re sitting at a friend’s wedding, wondering if your plus-one season will ever come. The kind that hits when you’re driving through Zillow listings or strolling past houses, whispering, “God, will I ever have one of my own?”

It’s the ache of not yet.

And it can feel heavy.

I know because I’m living in some of those “not yets” right now. Still sending out resumes. Still holding space in my heart for a love story I haven’t met yet. Still keeping dreams alive that feel both urgent and far-off. And honestly? Some days it feels like everyone else is moving forward while I’m stuck buffering.

But what if “not yet” isn’t rejection? What if it’s actually one of the most loving answers God can give?

I’m starting to see that waiting can be protection. That God might be keeping me from a situation I’m not ready for, or that’s not ready for me. That the delay might be divine... not to frustrate me, but to form me. Maybe there’s growth happening that I can’t see yet. Maybe the blessing I’m praying for is also being prepared to meet me at just the right time.

It’s a sacred thing to wait. To keep showing up, applying, hoping, and dreaming, even when heaven feels silent. I get it, we want to fast forward to the part where the prayers are answered. But when the right job offer comes, when the healthy relationship shows up, when the house keys finally land in your palm... you’ll carry it differently.

You’ll carry it with gratitude.

With depth.

With a confidence that says, I know what it took to get here.

So if you’re in the in-between... The gap between what you believe and what you see -

Know this: God hasn’t lost track of you. He’s still writing your story, even in the pauses.

Especially in the pauses.

Scripture to Sit With

Habakkuk 2:3 (NLT)

“This vision is for a future time.It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

Pause + Ponder

What are you waiting on right now? How has the waiting shaped your faith, your patience, or your perspective? Could it be that God is doing something in you that’s just as important as the thing you’re waiting for?

Small Step This Week

Choose one act of hope this week. Apply for that role. Schedule the house tour. Say yes to the coffee date. Take one small step toward the dream. And write a prayer from the middle, the place where you don’t have the ending yet. He hears you there.