WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:03.600 Some of the biggest changes in my life didn't 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.120 come with explosions. They came quietly. No dramatic 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:09.359 breakdown, no pack your bags, we're changing 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:11.919 everything moment. There was no movie soundtrack 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.900 swelling in the background while I realized my 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:18.399 whole life needed a total overhaul. Most of the 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.920 time, it was much less impressive than that. 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:23.820 It was more like sitting in the middle of a normal 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:26.620 week, drinking coffee I'd already reheated twice, 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:29.780 looking around at my life and thinking, something's 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:33.539 off. Not destroyed, not scandalous, just off. 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:36.840 One of those moments came when Fletcher, our 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.060 oldest, was about a year and a half old. Christy 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.320 and I had always talked intentionally about priorities. 00:00:42.939 --> 00:00:47.159 God first, marriage second, family next. We meant 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.840 it. We probably said it with total confidence. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.000 The kind of confidence you have before you have 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.420 children and realize toddlers don't care about 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.939 your theological framework for time management. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.130 Before kids. You say things like, we're going 00:01:02.130 --> 00:01:05.269 to protect our lifestyle and we're not going 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:09.269 to let our child run everything. Then a child 00:01:09.269 --> 00:01:12.590 enters your home and immediately begins conducting 00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:15.590 sleep experiments in violation of the Geneva 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:20.670 Convention. So somewhere in that first year and 00:01:20.670 --> 00:01:23.909 a half of parenting, we slipped into survival 00:01:23.909 --> 00:01:27.930 mode. Not rebellion, just survival. We were trying 00:01:27.930 --> 00:01:31.680 to work full time. Keep a marriage healthy, serve, 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:34.480 and keep the house from looking like a raccoon 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.959 had opened a daycare in our living room. No big 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:41.879 deal. And if I'm being honest, I was quietly 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.500 trying to keep up with everyone else who looked 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:49.260 like they had somehow figured this all out. That's 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:51.980 usually how drift works. Nobody calls it drift 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:54.879 while it's happening. Nobody wakes up. and says, 00:01:54.980 --> 00:01:57.859 today seems like a great day to slowly move away 00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:01.420 from the priorities I claim to believe. It just 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:09.479 happens. One not tonight at a time. One once 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:13.419 things slow down at a time. And then one day, 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:16.240 you realize the things you said mattered most 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.659 are getting whatever energy you have left. You 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:23.180 didn't stop loving them. You just stopped protecting 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:27.710 them. That's what's scary about all of this. 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:31.409 Everything looked fine from the outside. We were 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:35.270 showing up. But it wasn't collapse. It was drift. 00:02:35.569 --> 00:02:38.150 And drift is harder to name because it often 00:02:38.150 --> 00:02:41.610 looks responsible. It looks like maturity until 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.449 you slow down long enough to ask, are we actually 00:02:44.449 --> 00:02:46.889 living according to the priorities we say we 00:02:46.889 --> 00:02:50.610 believe? For us, the answer was uncomfortable. 00:02:51.569 --> 00:02:54.879 We had not abandoned our priorities. we had stopped 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:58.939 protecting them. And once you see that, you can't 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:04.120 unsee it. Welcome to Grace in the Grind, brought 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:05.759 to you by Arrow & Roots Coffee Company, where 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:09.000 faith meets the everyday. Here, we take time 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.039 to notice God's presence in the middle of life's 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:14.500 busiest moments, to find encouragement, clarity, 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:17.479 and a reminder of His grace right in the grind 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.520 of daily life. So grab your coffee, and let's 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:25.060 take a sip of this cup together. I've got some 00:03:25.060 --> 00:03:27.080 coffee date brewed today from Aaron Roots Coffee 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:30.479 Company. I went with a pour over this morning, 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:33.020 mostly because I enjoy the ritual of standing 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:37.780 there, watching it, letting it make the kitchen 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.900 smell great. Like a place where, you know, adults 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:43.020 actually live and have their lives together. 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:47.599 You know, I can dream. I'm drinking it black 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.780 today. No cream, no sugar. Just smooth, solid 00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:54.710 cup. Nothing fancy. No hidden metaphors, just 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:57.830 a really good cup of coffee to get this day moving. 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:01.729 Before we move on, though, if you're finding 00:04:01.729 --> 00:04:04.370 this show helpful or just funny in some ways, 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:08.270 the best way to support us is grabbing a bag 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:10.110 of coffee from Arrow & Roots Coffee Company. 00:04:10.729 --> 00:04:13.129 It's a simple way to keep the lights on for us 00:04:13.129 --> 00:04:15.689 and keep my caffeine levels high enough to actually 00:04:15.689 --> 00:04:19.290 make sense. Plus, let's be honest, buying a bag 00:04:19.290 --> 00:04:22.250 of genuinely good coffee is significantly cheaper. 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.899 than a midlife crisis, and it tastes way better 00:04:24.899 --> 00:04:28.139 than a green smoothie. Check the link in the 00:04:28.139 --> 00:04:30.379 show notes, grab some porch light or some coffee 00:04:30.379 --> 00:04:32.620 date, and help me keep this conversation going. 00:04:32.779 --> 00:04:35.199 No guilt, no pressure, just good beans for the 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:38.600 grind. So today we're talking about the middle 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:41.240 season. The one where nothing is falling apart, 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:46.639 but nothing feels new either. In pot two, we've 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.560 been talking about the false dream we were sold. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.519 And part of that dream is the idea That if you 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:55.300 are following God, you should be seeing constant, 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:59.279 visible, upward movement. We've been conditioned 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.560 to believe that progress is only evidence of 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:07.300 God's favor. So when we hit a season where we 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:10.560 aren't rebuilding from a wreck, but we aren't 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.220 breaking ground on a new project, we get nervous. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.399 We're just there. And that's part of what makes 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.430 the middle so uncomfortable. There's no obvious 00:05:21.430 --> 00:05:24.529 crisis to rally around, no clear problem to solve, 00:05:24.589 --> 00:05:26.769 no dramatic turning point you can point to and 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:30.949 say, this is where everything changed. Life is 00:05:30.949 --> 00:05:34.089 functioning. Your faith is intact. You're doing 00:05:34.089 --> 00:05:37.550 what you know to do. And yet, something feels 00:05:37.550 --> 00:05:41.970 stalled. The tension we're feeling is this. We 00:05:41.970 --> 00:05:44.310 expected obedience to feel like progress, but 00:05:44.310 --> 00:05:47.509 sometimes obedience just feels like staying. 00:05:48.430 --> 00:05:50.949 We thought faithfulness would always come with 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:56.230 a sense of momentum, of movement, clarity, visible 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:59.810 growth. And when it doesn't, the question quietly 00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:02.670 forms in the back of our minds. Am I actually 00:06:02.670 --> 00:06:06.310 being formed or am I just stuck? Our primary 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:09.370 passage today comes from Galatians 6, verse 9. 00:06:09.790 --> 00:06:12.829 And we'll also look at a small overlooked verse 00:06:12.829 --> 00:06:15.790 in Luke 16. My hope is that by the end of this 00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:19.079 episode, you'll see. that the middle is not wasted 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:22.639 time. It's formative time. Theologically speaking, 00:06:22.899 --> 00:06:25.839 this is where sanctification usually does its 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:29.300 slowest and deepest work. We love the word sanctification 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:32.519 when it sounds like a transformation story, but 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.579 most of the time, sanctification is just God 00:06:35.579 --> 00:06:38.959 reshaping our instincts over time. It's teaching 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:42.579 us how to trust him without the constant dopamine 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:46.060 hit of a win. It's teaching us how to stay faithful. 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:50.689 when the only person watching is him. So Galatians 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:53.970 6 .9 says, Let us not grow weary of doing good, 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:57.970 for in due season we'll reap if we do not give 00:06:57.970 --> 00:07:02.629 up. Now, I want you to notice who Paul is talking 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:05.930 to. He isn't writing to people who are in open 00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:08.709 rebellion. He isn't writing to people who have 00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:10.949 walked away from their faith and who are living 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:14.009 in a scandalous mess. He's writing to people 00:07:14.009 --> 00:07:18.079 who are doing good. They are showing up. They're 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.500 serving. They are being responsible. They're 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:22.459 trying to follow the blueprint. And yet Paul 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:26.100 knows that these are the people most at risk 00:07:26.100 --> 00:07:30.139 of growing weary. That verse doesn't exist because 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:32.959 perseverance is easy. It exists because weariness 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.879 is expected. Paul is acknowledging that doing 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:39.579 the right thing day after day without seeing 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:43.220 the harvest is exhausting. He doesn't shame them 00:07:43.220 --> 00:07:45.560 for being tired. He doesn't say, If you were 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.779 really spiritual, you'd have more energy. He 00:07:49.779 --> 00:07:53.199 says, don't give up. Which tells us something 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.000 important. The danger in the middle season isn't 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.339 usually dramatic disobedience. It's quiet resignation. 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:04.180 It's that slow internal shift from I'm trusting 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.819 God here to I guess this is just how it's going 00:08:07.819 --> 00:08:11.720 to be. It's when we stop expecting God to move 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:15.800 and we just start enduring him. Paul anchors 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:19.939 our hope not in immediate results, but in due 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:24.959 season. That's Argarian language. A farmer doesn't 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.600 plant a seed and then go out the next morning 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.339 and scream at the dirt because there isn't a 00:08:30.339 --> 00:08:33.340 stalk of corn yet. He knows there's a hidden 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:36.159 work happening beneath the surface that he can't 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:41.279 see and he can't rush. The due season is God's 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:46.690 timing, not ours. And the if in that verse, if 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:51.149 we don't give up, is the call to remain in the 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:54.190 field even when the dirt looks exactly like it 00:08:54.190 --> 00:08:58.029 did yesterday. Now, we're going to talk more 00:08:58.029 --> 00:09:01.049 about the due season part of this in the extra 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:03.830 shot this week. But I want to continue on here 00:09:03.830 --> 00:09:07.110 and look at Luke 16 .10. It adds another layer 00:09:07.110 --> 00:09:10.929 to this. One who is faithful in very little is 00:09:10.929 --> 00:09:14.909 also faithful in much. We usually hear that as 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:17.669 a motivational speech like, do a good job at 00:09:17.669 --> 00:09:20.210 your entry -level position so you can get a promotion. 00:09:21.610 --> 00:09:24.330 But in the kingdom, that's not a motivational 00:09:24.330 --> 00:09:26.549 speech. It's not motivational language. It's 00:09:26.549 --> 00:09:30.090 formational language. Jesus isn't saying, hang 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:31.669 in there and someday I'll give you something 00:09:31.669 --> 00:09:35.210 that actually matters. He's saying this is what 00:09:35.210 --> 00:09:38.409 matters. Faithfulness is not a destination for 00:09:38.409 --> 00:09:41.309 you to reach once you have a big platform or 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:45.330 a big house. or a big breakthrough. Faithfulness 00:09:45.330 --> 00:09:49.070 is a muscle that is built in the small and unseen 00:09:49.070 --> 00:09:52.269 and the repetitive. It's built in the seasons 00:09:52.269 --> 00:09:54.710 that aren't impressive enough to talk about at 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:58.549 the dinner party. The middle is not the interruption 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:01.750 to your real life. The middle is the training 00:10:01.750 --> 00:10:06.350 ground. We have a bad habit of dividing our lives 00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:09.690 into sacred moments, the ones where we feel God's 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:13.769 presence or see his hand move. and ordinary moments 00:10:13.769 --> 00:10:17.190 that we just have to get through. We think God 00:10:17.190 --> 00:10:21.190 cares about our time at church, but he's indifferent 00:10:21.190 --> 00:10:23.230 about our time at the office or time folding 00:10:23.230 --> 00:10:26.429 laundry or whatever else it is we do. But that 00:10:26.429 --> 00:10:29.330 division doesn't exist in scripture. Biblically, 00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:33.190 your vocation, your calling, isn't first about 00:10:33.190 --> 00:10:36.049 what you do for a living. It's about where God 00:10:36.049 --> 00:10:39.149 has placed you right now to live faithfully. 00:10:40.330 --> 00:10:44.509 Paul says in Colossians 3 .23, Whatever you do, 00:10:44.590 --> 00:10:49.490 work heartily as for the Lord. That verse wasn't 00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:52.690 written to people with exciting dream jobs or 00:10:52.690 --> 00:10:56.190 creative freedom. It was written to people doing 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:59.929 repetitive, often difficult, unseen work. And 00:10:59.929 --> 00:11:04.309 Paul tells them that work is your worship, which 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:06.750 means your job right now, your current role, 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:09.549 your current family dynamic. Your current unchanged 00:11:09.549 --> 00:11:13.250 season is not something merely to endure until 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:18.210 your real calling shows up. It is the very place 00:11:18.210 --> 00:11:21.730 God is forming you. Not because it's glamorous, 00:11:21.990 --> 00:11:25.929 not because it's efficient, because obedience 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:30.370 lived quietly reshapes the heart. If you look 00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:32.789 at the heroes of scripture, they spent far more 00:11:32.789 --> 00:11:35.149 time in the middle than they did in the spotlight. 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:38.889 Moses spent 40 years, four decades, shepherding 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.090 sheep in the wilderness before he ever saw a 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:45.029 burning bush. David spent his youth tending sheep 00:11:45.029 --> 00:11:48.409 and running from a crazy king before he ever 00:11:48.409 --> 00:11:51.830 sat on a throne. And Jesus himself lived 30 years 00:11:51.830 --> 00:11:55.830 in absolute obscurity in a carpenter shop before 00:11:55.830 --> 00:11:59.509 he had three years of public ministry. We love 00:11:59.509 --> 00:12:03.509 the three years of ministry. We want the miracles 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:07.039 and the crowds. But God clearly valued the 30 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:11.220 years of middle. He was at work in the sawdust 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:14.559 and the mundane. God does not wait until you 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:18.279 have momentum to start working. He is already 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.980 at work right now, in the stable, unchanged, 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:25.000 ordinary grind of your Tuesday afternoon. Now, 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.860 we have to be careful here. Because for a lot 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.379 of us, faithfulness has started to sound a lot 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:33.769 like burnout. In our false dream culture, We've 00:12:33.769 --> 00:12:36.570 been told that being faithful means being exhausted. 00:12:37.009 --> 00:12:39.610 We think that if we aren't constantly pushed 00:12:39.610 --> 00:12:41.889 to our limit, we aren't doing enough for the 00:12:41.889 --> 00:12:44.470 kingdom. If your obedience currently requires 00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:46.929 three alarms, two energy drinks, and a whispered 00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:49.769 prayer at 2 p .m. that sounds like, Lord, please 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:52.970 just get me through the next hour, we need to 00:12:52.970 --> 00:12:55.970 pause. Burnout is not a spiritual badge of honor. 00:12:56.350 --> 00:12:59.029 God is not more pleased with you because you're 00:12:59.029 --> 00:13:02.139 tired. He isn't looking at your... exhaustion 00:13:02.139 --> 00:13:05.259 and thinking, wow, look at how much they love 00:13:05.259 --> 00:13:08.419 me. He's looking at you and thinking, I gave 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:12.940 you Sabbath for a reason. If your sense of calling 00:13:12.940 --> 00:13:15.379 sounds suspiciously like your LinkedIn headline, 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.620 you might not be living out vocation. You might 00:13:18.620 --> 00:13:21.179 be living out a performance. You might be trying 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:24.019 to prove something to yourself or to your parents 00:13:24.019 --> 00:13:27.320 or to your neighbors that God has already settled. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.250 Biblical faithfulness is steady. Not frantic. 00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:36.129 Faithfulness asks, what has God actually entrusted 00:13:36.129 --> 00:13:39.870 to me? Burnout asks, what am I trying to prove? 00:13:42.389 --> 00:13:44.970 And just to be clear, having limits is not a 00:13:44.970 --> 00:13:47.929 sign of weak faith. It's a sign that you're human 00:13:47.929 --> 00:13:53.350 and not the Messiah. I have some good news for 00:13:53.350 --> 00:13:55.490 you. The position of Messiah is already filled. 00:13:55.570 --> 00:13:58.169 And the guy who has that job is doing a much 00:13:58.169 --> 00:14:00.970 better job than you ever would. Faithfulness 00:14:00.970 --> 00:14:04.470 can survive a day off. Faithfulness can survive 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:08.509 a no. Faithfulness can survive a season where 00:14:08.509 --> 00:14:11.850 you aren't the top performer. Burnout, on the 00:14:11.850 --> 00:14:15.169 other hand, panics at the idea of slowing down. 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:19.309 And that panic tells you exactly what is really 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:22.389 being trusted. You are trusting your own effort 00:14:22.389 --> 00:14:25.570 more than you're trusting God's providence. So, 00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:28.870 let's do a quick diagnostic. This isn't to shame 00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:31.299 you. It's just to help you notice what's going 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:35.179 on beneath the surface of your own grind. Ask 00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:38.259 yourself, is what I'm calling faithfulness producing 00:14:38.259 --> 00:14:43.580 love, trust, and steadiness in my life? Or is 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:46.700 it producing constant exhaustion, hidden resentment, 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.200 and a low -level hum of anxiety? True faithfulness, 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:54.700 the kind that comes from the Spirit, produces 00:14:54.700 --> 00:14:58.539 fruit, even in the middle. It might be slow fruit. 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:02.110 But it's there. Burnout produces performance, 00:15:02.470 --> 00:15:06.789 and performance eventually cracks. Another question. 00:15:07.190 --> 00:15:10.289 Am I responding to what God has actually asked 00:15:10.289 --> 00:15:16.330 of me? Or am I reacting to expectations, comparison, 00:15:16.750 --> 00:15:20.809 or fear? Sometimes staying faithful means showing 00:15:20.809 --> 00:15:24.929 up again. It means doing the work, making the 00:15:24.929 --> 00:15:28.230 call, and folding the laundry. But sometimes, 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:33.049 staying faithful means closing the laptop, saying 00:15:33.049 --> 00:15:35.990 no without a long spiritual speech to justify 00:15:35.990 --> 00:15:38.889 it, and trusting God to keep the world spinning 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:42.210 without your constant involvement. That's not 00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:47.850 laziness. That's trust. Here's the grace in all 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:50.649 of this. Stable seasons are not a punishment. 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:53.610 If you're in a season where nothing is moving, 00:15:53.789 --> 00:15:56.830 don't automatically assume it's because You've 00:15:56.830 --> 00:15:59.350 done something wrong. Don't assume God is holding 00:15:59.350 --> 00:16:02.190 out on you or you're being disciplined or put 00:16:02.190 --> 00:16:05.529 on the shelf. Waiting seasons are not wasted. 00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:09.210 Ordinary obedience is not second -class faith. 00:16:09.710 --> 00:16:13.509 God does some of his deepest and most structural 00:16:13.509 --> 00:16:16.850 work in the seasons that feel repetitive and 00:16:16.850 --> 00:16:20.210 quiet. This is how sanctification usually works. 00:16:20.450 --> 00:16:24.429 It's slow. It's steady. It happens over time, 00:16:24.549 --> 00:16:28.009 not overnight. comparison will still whisper 00:16:28.009 --> 00:16:30.950 in your ear that you're behind. It will show 00:16:30.950 --> 00:16:35.149 up in your highlights of everyone else's breakthroughs. 00:16:35.149 --> 00:16:38.289 But scripture reminds us that calling is not 00:16:38.289 --> 00:16:41.250 a race and faithfulness is not a competition. 00:16:41.970 --> 00:16:44.470 Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do 00:16:44.470 --> 00:16:47.250 is just stay present right where God has already 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:50.690 placed you. Stop waiting for the real season 00:16:50.690 --> 00:16:54.990 to start. This is the season. The clearest sign 00:16:54.990 --> 00:16:57.669 that God is at work in your life might not be 00:16:57.669 --> 00:17:00.649 a promotion or a new relationship or a big win. 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:03.490 It might just be the fact that you haven't burned 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:06.230 out yet. It might be the fact that you're still 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:09.109 showing up, still praying, and still trusting, 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:13.250 even when the dirt hasn't changed. That's not 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:17.329 failure. That's formation. So here's the invitation 00:17:17.329 --> 00:17:20.450 for this week. Name one ordinary act of faithfulness 00:17:20.450 --> 00:17:24.000 you've been tempted to dismiss as nothing. Is 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.940 it going to work and doing your job with integrity? 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:29.359 Is it serving quietly in a way that will never 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.259 get a shout out? Is it showing up for your family 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:36.160 when you're tired? Is it praying when it feels 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:39.440 like a routine you're just going through? Name 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:42.859 it. And then, I want you to thank God for it. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:45.880 Not because it feels impressive, but because 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:50.240 it is an act of obedience. Then practice one 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:53.849 act of trust. Let go of something you've been 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:57.690 carrying that was never yours to hold. Maybe 00:17:57.690 --> 00:18:01.950 it's the pressure to get ahead. Maybe it's anxiety 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:06.930 over a timeline you can't control. The goal of 00:18:06.930 --> 00:18:09.670 this life is not to prove how much you can handle. 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:13.869 The goal is to trust God enough to stop acting 00:18:13.869 --> 00:18:19.670 like everything depends on you. If all you do 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:22.390 this week is keep showing up, Without quitting, 00:18:22.529 --> 00:18:25.450 without burning out, without giving up on the 00:18:25.450 --> 00:18:28.769 God who hasn't given up on you, that's not nothing. 00:18:28.890 --> 00:18:32.329 That's faithfulness. And scripture tells us that 00:18:32.329 --> 00:18:34.789 God honors that far more than we usually realize. 00:18:35.650 --> 00:18:38.950 He isn't looking for heroes. He's looking for 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:42.470 sons and daughters who trust him in the mundane. 00:18:42.990 --> 00:18:45.809 If you know someone who feels stuck right now, 00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:48.710 someone who isn't broken, they're just tired, 00:18:48.829 --> 00:18:52.069 tired of waiting on the next thing, Share this 00:18:52.069 --> 00:18:55.190 episode with them. Sometimes people don't need 00:18:55.190 --> 00:18:58.529 a breakthrough or a miracle. They just need reassurance 00:18:58.529 --> 00:19:01.349 that staying with God is not the same thing as 00:19:01.349 --> 00:19:05.970 falling behind. It's a hard thing to admit that 00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:08.250 you aren't the hero who has to move the story 00:19:08.250 --> 00:19:13.529 forward. But there is so much mercy in that admission. 00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:16.650 You don't have to carry the weight of what's 00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:20.390 next. You just have to carry the grace of what's 00:19:20.390 --> 00:19:23.299 now. Thanks for listening to Grace in the Grind, 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:25.720 where we keep the coffee strong and our faith 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:29.160 stronger, even in the middle, especially in the 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:31.799 middle. God is still at work. We'll see you in 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:32.200 the next cup.