Are You Letting God Set the Pace?

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As January comes to a close, there's a feeling many of us recognize the excitement is softened, the the newness has worn off, and the goals we stepped into with so much hope now require something a little deeper than motivation.

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Some of you are still going strong, though you've been steady, consistent, showing up even when it isn't exciting anymore.

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For others.

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You feel a little tired.

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You're starting to feel like you're maybe a little bit behind, or quietly wondering if you missed your moment already.

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So before we move any further into the year, I want to just pause with you for a minute.

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Not to restart, not to try to reset, but just to notice something important.

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What if the question right now isn't whether you're committed enough, but how you're moving forward?

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Hi, I'm Melissa, and this is my question for you.

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This is just a quiet place to pause, to reflect and listen for the question God may be asking you right in the middle of your everyday life.

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And today's question is simple.

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Are you letting God set the pace?

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We start off every new year with so much hope, so much excitement and optimism, enthusiasm.

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We have goals, resolutions, dreams.

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Everything is going to be new and exciting and different, and we have so much energy at the start of the year to carry us through.

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But by the end of January, something usually shifts.

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The external pressure fades a little from everyone that you've shared your resolutions with.

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You told people what you're going to do, and there's so much excitement.

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Accountability.

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People are watching you, checking in with you.

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But the internal dialogue starts to get even louder.

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You might hear thoughts like, wait, shouldn't.

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Shouldn't this feel a little easier by now?

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Or why does this still feel so heavy?

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You might even find yourself wondering if you are already starting to fall behind.

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For some of us, there's a quiet temptation to quit.

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Not dramatically.

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We don't want to make too much out of it or draw too much attention to ourselves, but just silently, without telling anyone that we've actually already given up on our resolution.

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I want to say this clearly right here.

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If January didn't go the way you hoped, that doesn't disqualify the rest of your year.

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And if January did go well, if you've been showing up and staying consistent, that matters so much more than you actually know.

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Faithfulness is often quiet.

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Consistency rarely gets applause.

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We talked about that last week.

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It's not flashy or fun or exciting to just keep showing up and do the steady things.

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We talked about wanting to measure progress and seeing where we started and where we made to.

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Those are the things that tend to get applause.

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So whether you're tired, steady, or maybe you're somewhere in between, this episode is for you.

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Because sometimes the issue isn't about commitment.

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Sometimes it could be about pace.

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Here's something I've noticed in my own life recently.

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When I move too fast, I stop listening.

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And when I move too slow, when I start to slow down a little bit, sometimes I feel like I'm actually starting to avoid things.

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But when I let God lead the rhythm, there's peace even when things are unfinished.

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I saw this recently in a small but still meaningful way.

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I was moving quickly through my days, getting things done, staying productive.

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I'm sure on the outside, to my family, to everyone, everything looked like progress, right?

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And this came recently, just through the holidays.

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You're moving, you're trying to get things done, you're planning, you're making sure everything is perfect for the end of the year.

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And you're just moving faster than you normally would.

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And you can start to see gifts piling up, plans come together, and that can start to look and feel like progress.

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But underneath, I was so tense.

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I wasn't grounded.

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And I found myself not being at peace anymore because I was just doing too much and moving too fast.

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And that tension was my clue.

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I wasn't out of discipline, but I was definitely out of rhythm.

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I had fallen out of rhythm with my everyday life, with habits, with routine.

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And it was noticeable.

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It was really starting to wear on me.

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Something else I've learned is that pressure and peace feel very different in your body.

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Pressure feels tight, it feels rushed, it feels loud.

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And peace doesn't always feel easy, but it feels grounded.

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And I've noticed that when I'm aligned with God's pace, I still work hard, but I'm not bracing myself the whole time.

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That's often how I can tell the difference.

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Not by how much I'm doing, but by what it's doing to me, how I'm feeling in the moment.

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We often assume progress means speeding up.

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More effort, more intensity, more discipline.

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But God rarely works through pressure.

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He works through alignment.

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Sometimes we misread faithfulness as force.

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We assume that if something feels hard, it must be right.

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Or that if we're tired, we just need to push through and work harder.

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But tired doesn't always mean unfaithful.

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Sometimes it means we've been carrying something God never asked us to carry in the first place.

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And misalignment doesn't always look obvious to us.

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If you think about it.

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Sometimes it looks like hurrying along, or it looks like avoidance.

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And sometimes it looks like staying busy so we don't have to sit still long enough to hear what God may be actually saying to us.

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So let me ask this to you gently.

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Who's been setting the pace in your life lately?

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Is it God?

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Or maybe it's fear?

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Could it be expectations or comparison?

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I don't want you to try to think about the answer to that right now.

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Just sit with it and notice what comes up when you start to think through that question.

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Let's talk honestly for a moment.

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There are a few subtle ways our pace can drift, and none of them mean that you've failed.

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The first one feels like rushing ahead of God.

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Sometimes we move quickly because stillness feels uncomfortable.

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We don't want to sit still too long.

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We want clarity, answers, relief.

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So we find ourselves pushing forward not because God said go, but because waiting feels vulnerable.

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The second one can feel like dragging behind God.

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Other times we slow down because the next step feels costly.

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We're not quite sure what's up ahead.

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We may call it patience, but underneath, if we're being real and honest with ourselves, it's really just fear.

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Fear of getting it wrong.

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Fear of being seen.

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Or maybe fear of letting go of what feels unfamiliar or too familiar.

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And the third one is letting comparison set the tempo.

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We look around and we wonder why it seems easier for everyone else, why others appear further along.

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And then we slowly find ourselves starting to wonder if someone's someone else's timeline should be more of our own.

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We start to wonder why we are not where they are, or why things are so slow, or why our blessings aren't getting answered as quickly as someone else.

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But God doesn't rush you because of someone else's progress.

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He walks with you in your timing, at your pace for the life that he set out for you.

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It's so important to let that settle into your spirit.

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One of the things that stands out to me the most about Jesus is his pace.

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He didn't rush, he didn't panic, and he didn't chase outcomes.

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He just walked slowly, quietly, steadily.

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He paused.

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He withdrew to pray.

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He knew when he needed to be alone, by himself, in quiet to pray.

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He stopped for interruptions.

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Even when people pressed him for urgency, he still moved with intention.

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I think that challenges the way many of us live our life today because we're surrounded by urgency.

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Everything this culture that we live in today is about fast results, fast paced.

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Urgency notifications, their deadlines, our phones, expectations from family, there's always something hurrying us through life, and it raises a quiet question.

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What would change if we trusted that God isn't in a hurry, even when we might be?

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Psalm 46, verse 10 says, Be still and know that I am God.

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Stillness doesn't cancel our progress, it clarifies it.

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If you would take the time to let stillness work in your life and to notice what's happening, it can actually bring clarity to our thoughts and to our plans.

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I want to speak directly to those of you who are staying the course.

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You've kept showing up, you've stayed committed.

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You're doing the quiet work even when it feels ordinary.

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Please hear this.

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Your faithfulness matters.

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Sometimes the hardest place to stay faithful is in the middle, when the excitement is past and the finish line feels so far away.

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When no one's cheering you on and nothing dramatic is happening in your life.

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If that's where you are, you're not doing it wrong.

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You're doing something deeply formative.

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Finishing strong doesn't require speed.

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Often it looks like steadiness.

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It looks like just staying consistency consistent.

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And it looks like doing the same thing again and again and again with integrity and with trust.

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Don't underestimate that because God sees it.

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And if you're feeling tired or maybe a little discouraged or unsure if you can keep going, let me offer you this.

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You are not behind and you're not late and you're not failing.

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You may simply need a gentler rhythm.

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The year is still open.

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It's still early in this new year.

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Your story is still unfolding, and God is not frustrated with your pace.

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He's walking with you.

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So give yourself a little grace.

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Don't quit.

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Don't get.

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Don't give up.

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Don't get discouraged.

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Give yourself the grace to say, I may not be where I thought I'd be by now.

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One month into the new year.

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I started out with so much excitement and I had so many plans, but you're just not seeing it.

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Don't quit and don't be so hard on yourself.

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Let God lead your pace and trust that he is leading you along the right path.

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And trust his timing for what he has for you.

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If you like to journal or if you want to just take a quiet minute, I want you to just consider this for a second.

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Where might God be inviting you to slow down without stopping?

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We don't want to stop.

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Not asking you to stop, but where May God just be asking you to slow down for a minute?

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You might also want to think about and ask yourself this what am I doing right now that feels rushed?

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What feels heavy but still meaningful?

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And what pace would bring me peace instead of pressure this week?

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You may notice moments when you feel rushed.

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For no clear reason at all, something just feels wrong and you find yourself feeling out of rhythm.

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Or there might be moments when if you slow down, it starts to feel a little uncomfortable.

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When that happens, instead of correcting it or immediately starting to find yourself feeling anxious, try just getting a little curious and just ask what's driving this pace?

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What's making me feel this way?

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What has me out of rhythm and what can I do to bring myself back into alignment with God and to start moving at God's pace?

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If you noticed any of that today, that's enough.

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Just being aware, having that awareness that maybe something is a little bit off.

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Even if you don't have all the answers right now, just having that awareness is enough.

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Because awareness creates space.

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And space is often where God speaks.

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As we continue this season together, we'll talk about what it looks like when faith feels hard to move, when clarity feels distant, and when you want traction but don't know where to begin.

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We won't rush it and we won't force it.

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For now, I want you to just hold on to this.

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Finishing strong doesn't require speeding up, but it does require staying aligned.

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And alignment doesn't hurry.

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So keep going.

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And if you need to slow down a little this week, let that be okay.

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Trust God's pace.

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Let God set your pace.

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Trust his timing and just be okay with stepping back and pausing and understanding exactly where you are, understanding when you're out of alignment, and letting God give you peace and bring peace back into your journey, back into your goals, and back into your life.

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So until next time, keep asking, keep listening, and trust that even when the road feels slow, God is still walking right beside you.

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Before you go.

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If today's question stayed with you, I'd love to keep the conversation going.

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Each week I send a short email called this week's Question a Quiet Invitation, and it's a simple reflection to help you stay grounded, to pay attention, to dive deeper into God's word, and to walk with God throughout your week.

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You can sign up at my question for you.com bringing you encouragement for your spirit and wisdom for your walk.

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It.