There are seasons in life when everything feels clear.
Doors open. Direction feels certain.
Energy is strong.
Faith feels uncomplicated.
Good surprises are happening.
Dang, I love living life like that.
When I sense I’m in a season like that, part of me wants time to freeze. But it never does.
Eventually things shift. The sweet spot never lasts forever.
Out of nowhere, unexpected things appear, and they are not the good surprises. I find myself flat on my face, begging God to intervene. Answers aren’t visible, and everything feels unresolved.
I hate those seasons. Yet some of my greatest growth has come when it felt like the ground beneath me was giving way.
I’ve learned how easy it is to wait for resolution before deciding I’m okay. But as long as my peace depends on circumstances I cannot control, fulfillment will always stay out of reach. And honestly, I got tired of waiting for fulfillment. I had to learn to be okay with life unresolved.
By midlife, if you have walked with God long enough, you recognize both kinds of seasons as part of the journey. Still, I dislike the in-between. I want clarity. I want to know where God is leading and what I’m supposed to do.
But trusting Him while the story is still unfolding requires a deeper faith than certainty ever did.
Right now I am learning that instead of trying to eliminate uncertainty, I must enlarge my capacity to live with it.
That sounds simple when spoken. Living it is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
And yet… this is where faith matures.
When Faith Matures
Earlier in life, faith can feel simple: pray, believe, receive.
Over time, faith matures. We discover that walking with God is not a formula. It is a relationship.
Some prayers are answered quickly.
Some unfold slowly.
Some take paths we would never have chosen.
Some bring us to the edge of what feels mentally and emotionally bearable.
This does not mean God is absent. On the contrary, it often means He is at work beyond what we can see.
Scripture reminds us, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Seasons like these require trusting that He is working even when the landscape looks barren and the outcome feels uncertain.
By midlife, we begin to understand something we could not grasp earlier: faith is not proven when everything makes sense. It is strengthened when we trust without understanding.
This is the quiet work of mature faith…beyond what we can see even when things seem bleaker than ever. Faith is not proven when we understand everything. It is strengthened when we trust without understanding.
Mature faith does not eliminate mystery.
It learns to live faithfully inside it.
What the Fire Forms in Us
In-between seasons do something in us that certainty never could. As I wrestle with God in the in-between, I begin loosening my grip on control. I lean harder into Him, and I can feel our relationship moving to a deeper place. In these seasons, God isn’t only working on what surrounds me. Most importantly, He is working in me.
When I look back, every major season of growth in my life has come from times like this.
Growth is not cheap. Sometimes it feels like it costs you everything. Yet in those painful places, I have learned to expect that something sacred is being formed. God never allows this kind of fire without purpose. When I walk through chapters like this, I remind myself I am about to gain something that cannot be acquired any other way.
Some things can only be forged in fire.
Larry and I experienced this early in ministry. Our first pastorate ended in deep pain through an abusive church situation. We left devastated and with almost nothing. A kind pastor friend let us store what little remained in an empty Sunday school room. Walking through that season was excruciating. But what followed became one of the greatest gifts of our lives: the opportunity to serve as lead pastors in Maryland for ten years. Many of our closest and most treasured friendships were formed there. At the end of what felt like a season from hell came one sent from heaven.
Looking back now, I see a pattern: every significant turning point in my life was preceded by what felt like a personal tornado.
Trusting Without Closure
One of the hardest spiritual lessons is learning to live without immediate closure.
This is especially hard for me. I’m a person who confronts and moves forward. I’m a take-action person. I don’t sit on things. Yet sometimes God places me in situations where I cannot resolve anything my way. I have to wait and trust Him while the outcome is still unknown, believe in His goodness when the path feels unclear, and rest in His presence before answers arrive.
Recently I walked through something where the waiting felt almost unbearable. I wanted to act quickly just to create certainty, even though I didn’t know whether what I chose would actually be good. For a moment, living with something hard felt easier than living with not knowing.
Then I came to my senses and chose to keep waiting on God.
This kind of trust doesn’t come from striving harder. It comes from surrender. We lean into Him because our own understanding is not strong enough to carry us.
God in the Unfinished Places
If you find yourself in a season that does not yet make sense, you are not alone.
Many faithful people in Scripture lived through long stretches of waiting and unfolding promises. Abraham waited decades for fulfillment. Joseph endured betrayal and imprisonment before purpose became clear. David was anointed king long before he wore the crown. Even Mary carried a promise she could not fully understand. Their stories remind us that God’s timing often unfolds slowly, and His purposes are rarely revealed all at once.
God was present then.
He is present now.
Not only in the answers, but in the waiting.
By midlife, we begin to recognize that some questions are not resolved quickly, and some chapters remain unfinished longer than we would choose. Yet it is often in these unfinished places that God draws closest.
He meets us in the quiet.
He strengthens us in the uncertainty.
He steadies us when clarity has not yet arrived.
We may not see the whole picture, but we are not abandoned inside the unfolding.
God is present in the unanswered prayer, in the delayed outcome and in the present in the space between promise and fulfillment.
And He is present with you now.
An Invitation to Rest in Trust
You may not have clarity yet, or any sense of what the outcome will be. You may still have a thousand questions. But you are not alone. God is present and faithful in unfinished places.
Maybe today trust looks like praise.
Maybe it looks like surrender.
Maybe it looks like taking the next small step without seeing the whole path.
For many of us in midlife, trust no longer looks like certainty. It looks like steadiness. It looks like continuing forward with God even when the map is incomplete.
If you find yourself in an in-between season, may you rest in this truth:
God is present in the unfolding.
He is faithful in what is unfinished.
And you are held.
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