In 2014, I sat down and started writing a novel. A Christian fantasy for teenagers, full of adventure and kingdom warfare, and a young prince whose voice I could almost hear in my mind. I wrote with the kind of excitement that only comes when you believe something is supposed to exist in the world and God chose you to bring it forth.
And then life happened.
Family. Ministry. Coaching. Responsibilities stacked on top of responsibilities, and that manuscript got quietly set aside. But here’s what I want you to notice. I never threw it away, deleted the file, or convinced myself it was a silly idea and moved on. For over a decade, that story sat waiting. And honestly, so did I, wondering when I would ever have the time, the space, and the courage to go back and finish what God put in my heart to start.
If you’re reading this today, wondering the same thing about your own assignment, I want you to know this post was written with you in mind.
When Faith Starts to Cost You More
Let’s call this what it actually is. What you’re experiencing is not a lack of faith. It’s the natural result of repeated disappointment meeting a heart that still dares to hope. And I want you to hear that without shame, because shame will keep you stuck far longer than any closed door ever could.
You’ve believed God for your purpose, calling, and assignment. You’ve prepared and prayed and stepped out in faith more than once. And something fell through. Maybe it was a business that didn’t launch the way you planned. A ministry opportunity that evaporated. A creative project you started with fire in your bones and then tucked away because life crowded it out. And now, trusting God costs you something emotionally that it didn’t used to, and that feels like a spiritual problem.
It’s not. It’s a human problem. And God already knew you would be here.
In Psalm 13 (NIV), David cried out, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?” That wasn’t a faithless man. That was a man who had trusted God deeply and was now carrying the weight of a wait he didn’t understand. There’s a powerful difference between faithlessness and honesty. Your fear of trusting God again isn’t evidence that you’re broken. It’s the very place God wants to meet you and do something new in your heart.
The F.A.I.T.H. Framework for Waiting Women
I want to give you something practical to hold onto. I call it the F.A.I.T.H. Framework, and each letter represents a principle to help you move through this season without losing your trust, especially when you’re scared.
F – Face Your Fear Without Fixing It.
The first thing we do when we’re afraid is try to manage the fear away. We stay busy, make backup plans, or talk ourselves out of our calling or assignment altogether. But Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
God is not asking you to feel certain. He’s asking you to trust Him in the uncertainty. Facing your fear means sitting with it long enough to say, “I am afraid, and I am going to take the next step anyway.” That is courage. The fear doesn’t have to disappear. It just doesn’t get to be in charge.
A – Anchor Yourself in God’s Track Record, Not Your Circumstances.
Your circumstances are a snapshot. God’s faithfulness is a history.
When the children of Israel stood at the edge of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army behind them, God was not surprised. He had always planned to part those waters.
Exodus 14:13 (NIV) records Moses saying, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD.” The times God kept you, provided when you couldn’t see how, protected you from things you didn’t even know were coming. And that record is the anchor that holds you when the current tries to pull you away from your assignment.
I – Identify the Lie and Replace It with Truth.
Fear speaks in lies. The lie sounds like, You’ve missed your season. You’re too old, too behind, too broken.
For me, it sounded like, The world doesn’t need that book anymore. You waited too long. But Romans 8:28 (NIV) says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
Every year that manuscript sat waiting was a year God was still working, still preparing, still ordering my steps. The enemy wants you to believe the wait means no. God says the wait means not yet. And there is a world of difference between those two.
T – Take the Next Small Step.
We stay stuck because we’re waiting to see the whole staircase before we step onto the first stair.
Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Notice it says steps. We’re not talking about one giant leap.
Going back to my novel didn’t mean rewriting the entire manuscript in one weekend. It meant opening the file. Reading the first chapter. Deciding to revise one chapter at a time and trust God with the rest.
What is one thing you can do this week to move toward your calling? One conversation. One email. One prayer. One decision. One step of faith. Take that step.
H – Hold Onto Hope as a Discipline, Not Just a Feeling.
Real biblical hope is not an emotion. It’s a decision.
Romans 5:3-4 tells us that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. That means hope is produced through the very process you’re in right now.
I’m a better writer today than I was in 2014. My faith is deeper. My understanding of the teenagers I want to reach is richer than it was a decade ago. None of those years was lost. They were curriculum.
Your Calling is Still the Reason
Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” The Hebrew word for “wait” here, qavah, means to be braided, like a rope being twisted and strengthened.
Your waiting is not you sitting still while God does nothing. You are being braided into something stronger and more capable of carrying the weight of the assignment He prepared for you.
Joseph waited thirteen years between the promise and the palace. Thirteen years of pits and prisons and false accusations. Not a single one of those years was wasted. And when the appointed time came, nobody could stop it. Pharaoh’s dream needed a dreamer who had been through exactly what Joseph had been through. Your assignment needs the you that this season is producing.
Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV) says, “For still the vision awaits its appointed time… If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
That’s a promise written to a prophet who was also frustrated, also waiting, also asking God hard questions about timing. And it’s a promise written for you.
Your calling has not expired. Your assignment has not been cancelled. The God who placed it in you is still working, even now in the wait.
So, take the F.A.I.T.H. framework with you this week.
- Face your fear.
- Anchor in His track record.
- Identify the lie and replace it with truth.
- Take one small step.
- And hold onto hope as an act of obedience because your breakthrough is not lost.
It’s coming, and it will be right on time.
