Hey Onesies,
It’s me again, your average, almost 30 year old, blogger. The date is December 27th, 2025 and we are about to round out the year. If you’re reading this post, its most likely because you’re in a very uncomfortable place in your life. Maybe you have been walking with the Lord a long time or maybe its only been a few months? Either way, you have probably hit a wall and there seems to be no escape route in sight.
Well, I can say I know this feeling all too well. As a matter of fact, only six days ago, I was in this exact place. For context, I have been a Christian my entire life but truly took ownership of faith in College. I’ll spare you the long version of the story, but when I officially decided to let Jesus take the wheel, he made me promise I would work in the Film Industry.
I was a Communication major and a deep film lover, but working in the industry was never something I would have chosen. Clearly, it was God’s idea and I was shocked. The bible says, “his ways are not our ways,” so I’m not sure why I was so shocked, but hey, my 20 year old brain was still five years away from full development. Little did she know, she would continue to be shocked. Over the next 10 years, that girl would experience the most intense and unexpected growth of her life.
Between a global pandemic, Civic Unrest, fighting amongst the Christian community, going through a “church split,” building a new church, graduating college, getting my first full time job in Higher Education, moving out, gaining friends, losing friends, good bosses, bad bosses, getting a Masters degree, renting houses to buying a house, and experiencing every emotion under the sun, I found myself nowhere closer to the promise God gave me.
Don’t get me wrong, I learned SO much in that time with the Lord. My perspective on sovereignty, control, obedience, love and submission changed dramatically. I had more respect and curiosity about God than I ever had in my life. I was so grateful for the internal transformation, but the external looked mostly the same. After 10 years, I’m still working in Higher Education, I have a side job as a Group Fitness Instructor, living with roommates (who I love dearly), and writing this blog to keep my creative heart happy. Sure, life is peaceful, but it’s not at all what I thought it would be. Sometimes, I feel stuck and to be honest…that is frustrating. Really frustrating. Sound familiar?
If so, I offer you the same advice my dad gave me: “You might have a faithfulness problem.”
I know, when he first said that to me, I took a little offense. He had seen most of the struggles I went through the past 10 years and saw how I continuously showed up. He HAD to know my heart was in the right place. Thankfully, he broke down his statement into 6 parts, “markers,” he called them. They resonated with my journey and I pray they resonate with you.
If you are feeling stuck, run through these markers one by one. If you can say you achieved everything on this list, then unfortunately, you are in a waiting game. In the words of our favorite blue Pixar fish with short term memory loss, “just keep swimming.” If you find there are a few items you can’t cross off the list, go to the Lord with them. Either way, a path will open up for you. I can’t promise it will be a fun road to walk, but do your best to embrace it.
Start Where You Are
Many times in our walk with God, he gives us instruction but we hesitate. We hesitate for various reasons, but if you’re like me, fear of failure may be one of them. I’m not a particularly Type A person, but I am a recovering “smart kid.” If there is one thing smart kids don’t do, its fail. The fear of failing has paralyzed me from starting projects, like this blog, that the Lord put on my heart to do. We say we have faith, but then want an exact blueprint of what God plans to do in the next five years. Sorry kids, that’s not faith. God knows if he gave you the task, its his responsibility to make sure you have everything needed to make it happen. If he’s asking you to start, do it.
Use What You Have
Similar to point one, use the resources you have in front of you. Unfortunately, our current culture of perfectly curated instagram feeds makes us believe we need the fanciest equipment before we can start something. Nonsense! The bible says “not to despise small beginnings.” The fear of people’s opinions on the quality of our work or self worth should not stop us from moving forward with the Lord.
Do What You Can
Again, I know this point is similar to the last 2, but nuance matters. After gathering your resources and figuring out where to start, you must actually do it. Whether you’re starting a side hustle or adopting a new hobby, the Lord doesn’t expect you to build it in a day. It can be tempting to go full speed ahead on a dream, but ultimately the goal is to please the Lord. We can please him by being obedient, but also, intentional. If you can only work on your dream once a week, do that. If you can do it twice a week, do that. If God can trust you with little, he will trust you with more.
Trust God’s Character
Alot of the smaller frustrations I’ve had the last few months have been solved by asking myself one question: “What do you believe about God’s character?” When our expectations are not being met, it’s tempting to assume God doesn’t care or is trying to withhold his promises from us. Essentially, what we’re saying when we take on this belief is that God is a manipulator. I know that sounds harsh, but what would you call someone who draws you in emotionally and spiritually with no intent to do what he would do? The key is to go back to what we believe about God’s character. Do we actually believe he is good? Do we actually believe he wants what’s best for us? If so, then it’s our job to wade through our emotions, remember what God has already done for us and believe he has a fruitful outcome.
Trust God’s Ways
Partway through this ten year journey, the Lord revealed part of my gifting was in writing. Character development and writing has always been my favorite part of storytelling so this task made sense to me. However, I’m not proud to say it took about a year and half before I was obedient to God’s instruction. Without realizing it, I had developed my own expectations for how my journey to filmmaking was going to proceed. I would keep working at the University, get a mentor in the film school, write as a hobby and eventually transition into film press or screenwriting. A simple plan. A safe plan. Not God’s plan.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, God’s plan is never going to be the most simple and safe method. Again, I’m not a Type A person, but I am fairly “risk averse.” The thought of writing on my own was very scary, but I also didn’t want to take matters into my own hands and move into a job in which God didn’t call me. I was stuck, but this time, by my own doing. It wasn’t until I had a radical year of courage and let go of fear that I finally started writing. Since then, I’ve written my first tv pilot, started a book and publish this blog once a week. Starting my film journey this way was not my goal and it’s still not the method I would have chosen. However, submitting to the Lord means submitting to his ways.
There is a man in the bible who has leprosy and must dunk himself 7 times in the Jordan river to be healed. The Jordan river was the dirtiest river at the time and certainly not the ideal healing method. He is so annoyed by the instruction, he almost doesn’t do it and continues living his life with the illness. Imagine being so put off by God’s methodology, we choose to live with leprosy! Now, we can judge the ill man, but we have all been him at least once. Ultimately, he comes to his senses, dunks himself into the river and is healed. Thank God! No matter how strange the instruction may seem, God can see the ends we cannot. He is also considering other factors we may not know exist. Trust him and do what he says.
Trust God’s Timing
If you have gotten this far on this list, congrats! You’ve fought, surrendered, submitted, questioned, lamented, and still remained faithful. Now is truly the hard part: Be patient. I know it’s everybody’s favorite fruit of the spirit! (She writes sarcastically.) Personally, I think the literal translation for the word is much truer to our experience .i.e long suffering.
The longer you walk with the Lord, the more you will hear Christian’s say “go back and do the last thing God told you to do.” This command can be annoying, but it’s true. Obedience is God’s love language and he can’t move us forward if we haven’t done that last thing he asked us to do. The frustrating part is when we have and are doing what God has asked us to do. What if we have been obedient? What if we are using what we have and starting from where we are? What then? To that question, there is only one answer: wait.
Give it time. Give God time. Let the seasons rage on and stay diligent. I once heard that bamboo will spread its roots underground for 3-5 years before it ever appears above ground. However, once it finally breaks through, some species can grow up to 3 feet in one day! In small ways, I have found the Lord works similarly. What seemingly has or is taking years to breakthrough is actually developing strong roots to sustain exponential growth in a short amount of time.
These are what Christians call “suddenly” moments. The phrase comes from parts of the bible where God does something “all of a sudden” or “at just the right time.” Jesus’ birth had been prophesied for centuries and the very prophets who spoke of him never got to meet him. However, the bible still says Jesus came into the world “at just the right time.” As someone who is literally in the middle of her journey towards God’s promise, I can confirm that waiting is hard, really hard. The good part is, I don’t feel stuck anymore.
It’s not because I’m in a financial situation where I can quit my job in Education and write full time or because God has confirmed I’m going to start working in movies tomorrow. It’s because I know I’m on the right track. It’s because I know I’m faithful to the Lord. When you’re faithful, it’s only a matter of time before your “suddenly moment” happens.
The moment may come out of nowhere or it can come gradually. The key is to keep following God one step at a time and wait your turn. Even if it doesn’t look like it, God has no reason not to move you forward. While waiting, try to shift your perspective from “I’m stuck” to “I’m right where I’m supposed to be.” This mindset requires a small change of heart, but makes all the difference in our day to day. Stay faithful friends!
One is A Whole Number 
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