What a season. 

I know for many of us, whether it’s been the most beautiful season or the most challenging, both have a divine way of building our character in the Lord. 

True or true (or as we say in Chile, “Si o si?!”)?!

The same has been true for me. This has been a deeply challenging season on every front, one that has stretched me in ways I didn’t expect.

Now, I know for most, you may see me boldly sharing the word God's given me AFTER He's undergone the process within me...

And though I'm NEVER done, as I deliver that word, it can seem like I may have it all figured out. Like I'm checking the boxes and winning at life.

TEAM. DREAMERS. FRIENDS. Let me be very clear... I am noooooot winning at life. But the good news is, I'm not trying to anymore.

I just want to be obedient.

I just want to be in alignment.

And oftentimes, that means, NO, I am not winning at life - or at least based upon the world's standards.

So this week, I absolutely, positively bringing you into the process the Lord is leading me through... one that I hope encourages you and supports you if you too are in the same place - needing hope.

It'll be worth it, I promise.

In the waiting, where hope is tested, I have learned…

Because this is a MEATY topic, I am going to break down these key words: Waiting. Hope. Tested.

First—let me define the waiting.

The waiting is the holy “in-between.” It’s the gap between what God said and what you’re seeing right now.

It’s the space between the dream He planted within you and the reality in front of you. It’s the tension between fact and promise, what is and what will be. It’s that divine hallway where Heaven is preparing you for what your heart is praying for.

It’s here—in this uncomfortable, stretching, refining middle—that the waiting is not denial. It doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. It doesn’t mean that you heard wrong or that God doesn’t hear you. And, if one is not aware and very intentional, it can be the place of greatest disappointment.

Disappointment breeds hopelessness. Scripture says: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12 NLT).

After years in ministry, and faithfully following the steps of the Lord, I have seen many dreams completely fulfilled for other people, all across the world. I have seen deliverance, physical healing, and marital healing. I have seen anxiety broken, businesses and ministries built, and depression obliterated. I have seen people write their books, start a church, and step into full time missions work. All while finding myself at the bottom of my own pit of personal disappointment, delay… waiting.

When you’re sure you’re about God’s business… but nothing is working, it can feel confusing, disappointing, even a little bit like, “God… did I miss You?”

But here’s the truth you already know in your spirit

Silence is not absence. Delay is not denial. And difficulty is not disobedience.

Sometimes the very evidence that you’re doing God’s work is that everything feels like it’s resisting you because when you step into God’s assignment, the enemy attacks. 

It is here that I have learned some of the deepest, most heart-shaping truths about hope. 

Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It’s not, “I hope this works out.”

It’s also not faith. It works with faith, but it is unique from it. 

Biblical hope is a confident expectation, based on God’s character, that He will be good to me.

It’s our steady anchor planted in who God IS, not in what I see.

Hope says:

• “God is good.”
• “God is with me.”
• “God will come through.”
• “It might not be today, but His nature doesn’t change.”

Hope is the posture of the heart based on God’s nature.

Hope changes everything because it is the anchor to your soul (Hebrews 6:19).

If you are lacking in hope, your faith will always wax and wane (ask me how I know). That’s because they are different. As Biblical hope trust in the character of God, Biblical Faith is active trust that moves with God!

Faith picks up where hope sets the direction. Faith is acting as if what God said is true, because you are convinced it IS true.

Again, Hope says:

• “God is good.”
• “God is with me.”
• “God will come through.”
• “It might not be today, but His nature doesn’t change.”

So Faith says:

• “I’ll step even when I can’t see the whole plan.”
• “I’ll obey even when it doesn’t make sense.”
• “I’ll build even when the resources aren’t here yet.”
• “I’ll show up even if I feel afraid.”

Hope keeps you expectant. Faith keeps you obedient and becomesthe substance and evidence of unseen realities (Hebrews 11:1).

Bottom line: you need both.

Hope without faith leads to passivity. Faith without hope leads to burnout.

Hope tells your heart who God is. Faith tells your feet what to do because God is who He says He is.

Hope stabilizes you. Faith mobilizes you.

Hope anchors. Faith advances.

Hope is the root. Faith is the fruit.

Hope says, “God will be good.” Faith says, “So I will move.”

And here’s the kicker, EVEN when circumstances don’t seem to align and you’re in a season of testing. 

Biblical testing is the God-allowed process that proves, strengthens, and matures your faith.

It is not punishment.

It is not God trying to break you.

It is God refining you.

Why this matters in your current season:

Because right now, you’re fighting cynicism and fear because you’re in the waiting, and your hope is being tested.

Your heart wants reassurance. It needs anchoring.

You’re also feeling the pressure because your faith is being stretched.

Your obedience feels costly. Your steps feel risky.

But hear me: this tension, the testing, is actually the place where both are strengthened.

This is refinement, not punishment… working out of you anything and everything that can’t go with you. 

And yes, the Lord is that good. 

God shifts you before He shifts the work

Sometimes the work “not working” is God’s invitation to upgrade the worker. It’s in the testing, the stretching seasons… the “capacity building” chapters of life… that are truly preparing you to carry what you’re praying for phase.

This is the part where it feels like breaking, but heaven calls it becoming.

The resistance is strengthening your authority and giving you the ability to hold the weight of the blessing that’s coming. 

Because ultimately, what you fight through becomes what you carry in the Spirit.

If it were easy, you’d only have skills.

But because it’s hard, you’re gaining authority.

And authority is what impacts atmospheres, breaks yokes, and opens doors to bind what’s bound in heaven and loose what’s been loosed in Heaven (Matthew 16:19).

AND HERE, in this place of testing, one must rely on the HOPE they have in the Lord… not just His results or answering of prayers, but His true character. Obedience is success even when outcomes aren’t visible yet. 

Heaven measures progress by obedience, not performance. So if you’re doing what He said… you’re actually right on time, even if it looks like nothing is happening.

Hope isn’t believing God can. Hope is believing God is, even when nothing changes (YET).

Your YET will come. God’s word is never changing (Isaiah 55:11), His character is never changing (Malachi 3:6), and the great I AM is good (Psalm 34:8). 

It’s here, in the waiting, in the testing, I am learning to take my heart to Him—exactly as it is, even more than I ever have.

Not polished. Not strong. Not pretending. Just honest. Just surrendered. Just real.

So to the brokenhearted in your own in-between—

First: Take your heart to Him. He’s close. Let Him heal your heart. He can’t heal what you hide from Him. 

Anchor your hope in Him. He won’t fail you.

Be still. He’s working… even here.

Second, be ready to be transformed. 

Don’t just give Him your heart to be comforted (though that in and of itself is miraculous), give Him your heart so He can transform it. 

You are not behind.

You are not forgotten.

You are not disqualified because you’re hurting.

You’re simply becoming.

This is the sacred middle.

The messy miracle.

The awkward until awesome. 

Hold tight. Lean in. Let Him work.

Your rising is coming—and it will be worth every second of the wait.

Ask me how I know. 

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✨ Want to take the next step in your own dream journey? Grab a copy of my book BOLD: 101 Daily Devotions to DREAM BOLD and LIVE BIGGER and join our online community BOLD DREAMERS—where faith, dreams, and divine connections come alive.

Additional Scripture to meditate on in this season: 

God’s Word Is Unchanging

Isaiah 55:11 - “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Matthew 24:35 - “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Psalm 119:89- “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”

God’s Character Is Unchanging

Malachi 3:6- “For I the LORD do not change…”

Hebrews 13:8- “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Numbers 23:19- “God is not human, that he should lie… Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

The Great I AM Is Good

Exodus 3:14- “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’”

Psalm 34:8- “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Psalm 145:9- “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

James 1:17- “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father… who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Your “YET” Will Come — God’s Promise + Timing

Habakkuk 2:3- “Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

Galatians 6:9- “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Psalm 27:13–14- “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Lamentations 3:25–26- “The LORD is good to those who wait for him… It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Isaiah 40:31- “Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength…”