It's in the Staying · ✞ Freedom By Faith™

It's in the Staying

We say we're waiting on God.

But, God is waiting for us to stay where He put us long enough to receive the next instruction. 🕊️

We move from project to project, relationship to relationship, church to church, community to community, business to business—even location to location—without first checking in with the Master Planner to ask:

Is this where You assigned me?

Are these the people You placed around me?

Have You released me from here—or have I simply decided it's time to move?

We can become so accustomed to choosing our next thing that we never stop to consider whether the next thing was ours to choose.

God isn't improvising our lives as we go.

He worked ahead of us—preparing people, circumstances, abilities, provision and relationships long before we recognize why they're there. Some of what He placed in us was being prepared generations before we arrived. 🌱

But He doesn't usually hand us the complete itinerary.

Abraham got go, then direction.

Israel received enough manna for the day.

The disciples received follow Me, not a five-year ministry plan.

Philip was told to go to a road before he knew who he would meet there.

The particulars of our earthly assignments seem to come on an as-needed basis—step by step—as we mature into readiness.

And that changes the meaning of staying.

Staying isn't stagnation.

It isn't refusing to grow.

And it certainly doesn't mean remaining somewhere God has released us from.

Staying is remaining faithful to the present instruction until God gives another one. 🙏🏾

Even the people around us may be part of that instruction. We tend to think calling is only about what we're supposed to do. But sometimes it's also about who God assigned to walk beside us. Some relationships aren't incidental scenery around the calling.

They're part of its architecture. 🧩

So before we move, perhaps the question isn't simply, “What's next?”

Maybe it's:

Did God tell me to move?

Or did I become bored?

Distracted?

Impatient?

Offended?

Uncomfortable with what staying requires?

Or simply attracted to something newer?

Because every open door isn't necessarily our door.

And every season that becomes difficult isn't necessarily over.