Before I Go, Remain in Him.
If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this entire Trust Series, it’s this: remain faithful. Remain obedient. Remain in His Word. Remain prayerful. Remain trusting even when you cannot trace Him.
Not just when the prayers are being answered the way you hoped. Not just when your home is peaceful, your relationships are healthy, your plans are working, and you can clearly see God’s hand moving in your life.
Remain when you’re disappointed.
Remain when you’re waiting.
Remain when you’ve prayed and still don’t have an answer.
Remain when your heart feels heavy, when you’re wrestling with thoughts you don’t know what to do with, and when you’re trying to make sense of a season you never imagined you would have to walk through.
Remain in Him.
Jesus says in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you” (KJV). He doesn’t call us to visit Him occasionally. He calls us to abide to remain connected to Him.
And that’s what I’m learning to do.
I’m learning that my relationship with Jesus cannot be something I only tend to when I’m in trouble. I don’t want to wait until life falls apart to open my Bible. I don’t want prayer to become my last resort after I’ve called everybody else, explained the situation to five different people, scrolled through social media, and exhausted myself trying to find an answer.
I want Him first.
Before the phone.
Before the opinions.
Before I react.
Before I allow somebody else’s perspective to become louder than the truth of God’s Word.
I want to learn to go to Jesus first, not simply because I need something from Him, but because I want to know Him.
And that requires intentionality.
Turn Down the Noise. Make Room for Him.
Sometimes obedience looks like putting your phone down.
Sometimes wisdom looks like not responding to that text message immediately, not returning that phone call the moment it comes through, and not feeling obligated to explain yourself to everyone who wants access to your thoughts, your decisions, or your personal life.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is become quiet enough to recognize what is happening in your own heart and bring it honestly before the Lord.
Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (KJV).
Be still.
Not because every problem will disappear the moment you get quiet, but because your circumstances do not have to dictate the condition of your heart. You can bring your questions, your fears, your disappointments, and your confusion before the One who knows you completely.
And when your heart feels heavy, be especially intentional about what you allow to speak into it.
Not every thought deserves your agreement.
Not every feeling tells the whole truth.
Not every opinion deserves a place in your decision-making.
And not every uncomfortable season means that somebody is against you.
Sometimes we are so quick to assume the devil is attacking us. Sometimes we assume another person is the reason we’re uncomfortable. And sometimes we become so focused on what someone else did that we never stop to ask God what He wants to reveal in us.
I’m learning to ask a different question.
Instead of only asking, “Lord, why is this happening to me?” I’m learning to ask, “Lord, what do You want me to learn through this? What are You revealing about my heart? What needs to change in me? Where are You calling me to trust You, obey You, or grow?”
Because not every uncomfortable season is punishment. Not every hardship is a direct attack from the enemy. And not every difficult situation is evidence that we’ve done something wrong.
But we can bring every season before God and ask Him for wisdom.
Hebrews 12:6 teaches that the Lord disciplines those He loves. His correction is not evidence of His rejection. When He reveals something in us that needs to change, we can receive that correction with humility instead of immediately becoming defensive.
Sometimes God will lovingly confront the very thing we’ve been asking Him to bless.
Sometimes He will show us that the way we’ve been communicating needs to change. Sometimes He will expose our pride, our fear, our impatience, our dependence on people’s approval, or our habit of reacting before we pray.
And sometimes He will make us uncomfortable with patterns we’ve grown accustomed to because He is teaching us a different way to live.
Don’t waste the opportunity to grow because you’re too busy trying to prove who is wrong.
I know this because God has had to correct me, too.
There have been times when I was bold but not wise. Times when I spoke from hurt instead of responding with discernment. Times when I leaned on people before leaning on God. Times when I made decisions I later regretted, and times when I allowed past experiences to make me question myself.
I’m not sharing this because I’ve mastered it. I’m sharing it because I’m learning.
I want to be the woman who can receive correction without believing she is condemned. The woman who can admit she was wrong without believing she can never get it right. The woman who can forgive herself for the decisions she made with the understanding she had at the time, while still taking responsibility for what she knows now.
I can acknowledge who I was without remaining who I was.
I can love people without making them my source.
I can forgive people who have hurt me without pretending the hurt never happened.
I can learn from my past without allowing it to dictate my future.
And I can trust God to continue working in me while I learn to make wiser decisions.
That, to me, is part of trusting Him.
Stay in the Word, Even When You Have to Start Small.
Now, let’s talk about something practical.
Stay in your Bible.
Not just when you’re in a crisis. Not just when your feelings are hurt. Not just when you need a Scripture to post, a verse to send somebody, or an answer to a question.
Get to know the Word of God for yourself.
There may be a day when you spend an hour reading Scripture. There may be another day when you spend two hours studying, praying, taking notes, and asking God for understanding.
And there may be a day when you’re exhausted, your heart is heavy, and all you can manage is one passage that you read slowly and carry with you throughout the day.
Start there. Return tomorrow. Keep going.
The goal isn’t to compete with somebody else’s Bible-reading routine. The goal is to cultivate a life in which God’s Word is not a stranger to you.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (KJV).
Notice that a lamp gives light to your path. It doesn’t necessarily reveal the entire road at once.
Sometimes God gives you enough truth for the next step. You may not understand the whole season, but you can still obey what He has already made clear.
And when you don’t know what to pray, pray Scripture.
When you don’t know what to say, sit with His Word.
When your thoughts are racing, bring them before Him and ask for wisdom.
When you’re tempted to react, pause and consider what obedience looks like.
James 1:5 reminds us that if we lack wisdom, we can ask God, who gives generously.
But we must also be willing to receive His wisdom, even when it corrects what we wanted to hear.
And please, don’t turn your time with God into another reason to condemn yourself.
If you have struggled to be consistent, begin again. If you’ve been distracted, return your attention to Him. If you’ve been spiritually dry, be honest with God about it.
You don’t have to pretend you’re on fire when you feel weary.
You can tell the Lord, “Jesus, I’m struggling to focus. I’m struggling to understand. I’m struggling to pray. But I want to know You. Help me.”
Then open your Bible.
Pray.
Listen.
Study.
Ask questions.
Keep showing up.
I also want to say this with care: if you find yourself getting sleepy whenever you open your Bible but staying awake to scroll, watch television, or do other things, don’t automatically condemn yourself or assume every instance is a spiritual attack. Sometimes we are genuinely tired.
But it is worth examining our habits and priorities.
Am I giving my attention to everything else and offering God whatever is left? Am I making room for Him, or am I continually postponing time with Him?
We make room for the things we consider important. And if knowing Jesus matters to us, our daily lives should reflect that desire, not through perfection, but through intentionality.
Hosea 4:6 contains the sobering words, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (KJV). In context, God is confronting Israel over its rejection of knowledge and His instruction.
We should take that seriously.
We cannot expect to recognize truth if we never learn it. We cannot discern what contradicts God’s character if we never take time to understand His Word. And we cannot build our lives on a foundation we refuse to cultivate.
Don’t settle for knowing verses about God when you can spend your life growing in your knowledge of Him.
Be Careful Who You Allow to Speak Into Your Valley.
Another thing I’m learning is the importance of Christ-centered friendships.
We need people who will pray with us, point us back to Scripture, encourage us when we’re weary, and lovingly tell us the truth when we need correction.
We need friends who can sit with us in our pain without allowing our pain to become the only lens through which we see the situation.
Because there is a difference between someone who helps you process hurt with wisdom and someone who simply projects their own hurt onto your circumstances.
Not everybody who agrees with you is helping you grow.
Not everybody who tells you what you want to hear is giving you good counsel.
And not everybody who challenges your perspective is against you.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (KJV).
We need relationships that sharpen us.
People who remind us of God’s promises without pretending our problems don’t exist. People who can intercede for us when we struggle to pray. People who will encourage us to forgive, practice wisdom, take responsibility, establish healthy boundaries, and remain obedient to the Lord.
And we must be willing to become that kind of friend, too.
When somebody comes to us hurting, we should not be so eager to give our opinion that we forget to listen. We should not make their experience about our own. And we should not encourage someone to make a decision simply because it is what we would do.
Sometimes love sounds like encouragement.
Sometimes love sounds like a gentle correction.
Sometimes love sounds like, “Let’s pray about this before you decide what to do.”
And sometimes love means sitting quietly beside someone while they find the strength to seek God for themselves.
I am learning to be more intentional about who I seek counsel from, what I share, and whose voice I allow to influence my decisions.
Not because I want to live suspicious of everybody, but because I want to live discerningly.
I want people around me who will help me follow Jesus, not people who will simply help me feel right.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” – Proverbs 27:6 (KJV)
The Valley Is Not the End of Your Story.
And now, I want to leave you with this.
Being in the valley does not mean your story is over.
Sometimes the valley is where we become more aware of our need for Jesus. It’s where the things we depended on begin to lose their power over us. It’s where we discover that our strength has limits, our understanding is incomplete, and our need for God is greater than we realized.
Psalm 34:18 tells us, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart” (KJV).
He is near to the brokenhearted.
Psalm 23:1 begins, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (KJV). The same psalm goes on to speak about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The presence of the valley does not mean the Shepherd has abandoned the sheep.
And Romans 8:28 reminds believers that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. That does not mean every painful thing is good in itself. It means pain does not have the final authority over what God can accomplish in the lives of His people.
So, yes, there may be seasons when things do not go your way.
There may be prayers you don’t understand.
There may be relationships you have to reconsider.
There may be apologies you need to make, forgiveness you need to extend, and decisions you need to make differently.
There may be moments when you have to forgive yourself for not knowing then what you know now.
And there may be moments when you have to stop looking for another person to explain your season and simply go sit before the Lord.
Don’t rush past those moments.
Ask Him what you need to learn. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him to search your heart. Ask Him to help you recognize the difference between His truth and the conclusions you’ve drawn from your pain.
Then remain faithful.
Remain obedient.
Remain in His Word.
Remain prayerful.
Worship Him in the waiting.
Seek wise, Christ-centered counsel.
And when you cannot see the way, take the next step He has made clear.
You may not understand everything God is doing. You may not receive the answer on your timeline. You may have to walk through a season you would never have chosen.
But you can keep growing in your knowledge of who He is.
Don’t measure God’s faithfulness solely by how comfortable your life feels. Learn to recognize His character even when your circumstances are difficult.
And please remember: the goal is not to become a woman who never struggles to trust again. The goal is to become a woman who knows where to turn when she struggles.
I want to be that woman.
I want to go to Jesus before I go to the crowd. I want to seek His Word before I accept somebody else’s interpretation of my life. I want to be quiet enough to listen, humble enough to receive correction, and courageous enough to obey when His direction differs from my preference.
I want to trust Him when the answer is yes.
I want to trust Him when the answer is no.
I want to trust Him when the answer is not yet.
And I want to trust Him when I don’t understand the answer at all.
Because my trust isn’t ultimately in an outcome.
My trust is in a Person. And His name is Jesus.
I don’t just want to say I trust Him. I want my life to reflect that trust.
I don’t just want to talk about His Word. I want to live by it.
I don’t just want to hear about His character. I want to know Him for myself.
And I don’t want to wait until the next crisis to discover whether I’ve been building a relationship with Him.
I want to know Him today.
In my ordinary mornings. In my home. In my marriage. In my parenting. In my decisions. In my waiting. In my celebrations. In my disappointments. In the valley and on the mountaintop.
I want to remain in Him.
And if you’re learning to trust again, I pray that you’ll keep going, too.
Not because the journey will always be easy, but because Jesus is worthy of being known, followed, loved, and obeyed.
Remain faithful, friend. Remain obedient. Remain in the Word. Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep seeking Him first.
And when you stumble, return to Him.
When you grow weary, return to Him.
When you need correction, return to Him.
When you don’t know what to do next, return to Him.
Don’t allow the valley to convince you that God has abandoned you. Let it become a place where you learn to seek Him more deeply, depend on Him more honestly, and follow Him more faithfully.
The valley is not the end of your story.
And you do not have to walk through it without your Shepherd.
Sit With This. 🤎
Before you leave this entry, give yourself a little time to reflect. Don’t rush through these questions just to say you’ve finished reading. Take them to God honestly.
- When life becomes difficult, where do I turn first to God, to other people, to social media, or to my own understanding?
- Have I been giving God my attention intentionally, or have I been offering Him whatever is left after everything else?
- Is there a Scripture I need to return to this week and allow to shape my thoughts, choices, and responses?
- Am I interpreting my current season only through my pain, or am I asking God for wisdom and allowing His Word to correct my perspective?
- Are the people I seek counsel from helping me grow in Christ, or are they simply reinforcing what I already want to believe?
- Is there a familiar pattern, reaction, or attitude God may be asking me to change?
- What would trusting God look like in my actual life today not when everything is resolved, but right where I am?
And here’s the question I want you to carry with you:
If I say I trust God, what would it look like to live like I believe Him even before I see the outcome?
Sit with that.
Pray about it.
And let God meet you there.
A Prayer for the Valley and the Mountaintop
Father God,
Thank You for being patient with us as we learn to trust You more deeply. Thank You for Your Word, for Your correction, for Your mercy, and for Your faithfulness through every season.
Lord, teach us to seek You first. When we are tempted to run to everybody else for answers, remind us to come to You. When our minds are crowded with fear, confusion, and the opinions of others, help us become still enough to hear Your truth.
Give us a hunger for Your Word. Help us remain faithful when we feel strong and when we feel weary. Give us wisdom to recognize what is true, humility to receive correction, and courage to obey You even when we do not understand the outcome.
Search our hearts, Lord. Reveal the patterns we need to surrender, the wounds we need to bring before You, the apologies we need to make, and the forgiveness we need to extend. Help us take responsibility for our own growth without carrying shame for the people we used to be.
Teach us to love people without making them our source. Help us forgive without pretending that trust is automatically restored. Surround us with wise, Christ-centered friendships that encourage us to seek You and grow in Your likeness.
And when we find ourselves in the valley, remind us that You are near to the brokenhearted. Keep us from believing that a difficult season means You have abandoned us. Help us ask what we can learn, where we can grow, and how we can remain obedient right where we are.
Lord Jesus, we don’t want to know about You only through someone else’s testimony. We want to know You for ourselves. We want Your Word to shape our minds, Your truth to guide our decisions, and our lives to reflect the faith we profess.
When we cannot see the way, help us trust You.
When we cannot find the words to pray, help us return to Your Word.
When we are tempted to react, teach us to pause.
When we are afraid, remind us of Your character.
And when we stumble, help us return to You with humble and repentant hearts.
We place our valleys, our mountaintops, our relationships, our decisions, our regrets, and our futures in Your hands.
We don’t need to know every detail of the road ahead to keep following You.
In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
Until the Next Entry… 🤎
Thank you for sitting with me through this Trust Series.
These entries have been personal because this is something God is teaching me in real time. I’m learning to trust Him again, to trust the woman He is developing in me, to love people with wisdom, to forgive without ignoring what I’ve learned, and to seek Him before I seek the opinions of others.
I’m still learning. Still growing. Still being corrected. Still becoming.
And I hope you’ve given yourself permission to do the same.
My prayer is that these entries become something you can return to not just when life is hard, but whenever you need a reminder to slow down, open your Bible, examine your heart, and seek Jesus again.
Because we’re not writing from the finish line.
We’re walking it out together.
And as we close this Trust Series, I want to leave you with this:
Remain faithful. Remain obedient. Remain in His Word. Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep trusting God even when you cannot trace Him.
The same God who met you in the last season is still worthy of your trust today.
And the Jesus you’re learning to know now is the One you can keep following tomorrow.
Until the next series, keep seeking Him, keep growing, and keep giving yourself grace. 🤎
With love,
April | From Grit to Grace
Faith. Grace. Growth.
If this series encouraged you, share it with someone who may need the reminder. You can revisit all three entries on the blog whenever you need to sit with these truths again.
And if you’re new here, you’re welcome to stay. There is more Scripture to study, more growth to pursue, and more of this walk with Jesus to share.
Come study with me. Come grow with me.
From Grit to Grace where we’re learning to live what we believe, one day and one step at a time. 😌💞