What Do You Do While You Wait? - Episode 12
Waiting can feel lonely, confusing, and heavy — especially after you’ve already said yes to God. In this episode, we sit with the quiet in-between and discover how God works, strengthens, and prepares us while nothing seems to be happening.
What if the hardest part of obedience isn’t saying yes —
but everything that happens after?
In today’s episode, we step into the quiet, stretching, holy middle of Mary’s story — the months between her yes and the moment the promise finally took shape. It’s the part of obedience we rarely talk about… the part where nothing seems to be moving, doubts get loud, and you’re holding something from God that no one else can see yet.
Mary’s waiting wasn’t glamorous.
It wasn’t public.
It wasn’t easy.
It was lonely.
It was uncertain.
And it required a kind of courage that only grows in the dark.
But it was in that in-between place — the space between promise and fulfillment — that God was doing His deepest work.
In this episode, we explore:
✨ What Mary’s hidden months teach us about waiting with faith
✨ Why waiting is not punishment, but preparation
✨ How God strengthens you in the silence
✨ The role of community and confirmation (Mary & Elizabeth)
✨ How to recognize the quiet signs of God’s movement
✨ Why your middle is not wasted — it’s holy ground
If you’re in a season where God feels quiet…
If your yes has led you into uncertainty…
If you’re wondering whether God is still working…
This episode will remind you: He is.
Right in the middle of your waiting.
Right in the places that feel slow, silent, or unseen.
Listen in — and let this Advent reflection strengthen your hope while you wait.
✨ Encouragement for your spirit. Wisdom for your walk.
🎧 Listen now to pause, refocus, and rediscover the peace that comes from thinking God’s thoughts about you.
What if the hardest part of obedience isn't saying yes?
One of the hardest part is everything that happens after the yes.
When you're waiting,
wondering, hoping God is still moving even though nothing seems to be happening yet.
Welcome to my question for you. I'm your host, Melissa, and this is part two of our four part Christmas series,
walking through what obedience really looks like after you've said yes to God.
Last week we talked about Mary's courageous yes and a yes that didn't come from clarity, but from surrender.
A yes that was wrapped in risk and not reassurance.
And here's something we rarely sit with.
Saying yes is only the beginning.
The real stretching happens in the space between the promise and fulfillment.
And here's my question for you this week.
What do you do while you wait?
Foreign.
We think about Christmas, we usually rush right to the manger scene.
The angels, the star, the shepherds, the miracle.
But before any of that,
Mary entered a long,
quiet season where obedience didn't feel glorious,
it felt lonely.
Her yes happened in a moment,
but her waiting lasted months.
And this waiting wasn't peaceful or easy.
See, she was a teenage girl in a culture where pregnancy outside of marriage was considered something shameful and dangerous.
She had a body changing before the promise showed.
She had a reputation that was unraveling in her community.
A fiance who almost walked away days that were filled with whispers and judgment.
And she also had no proof yet that God was doing anything at all.
Mary was carrying the Savior of the world,
but for a long time she carried him in silence.
Her story teaches us something profound.
The middle of the promise is where faith grows the most.
Maybe today you're in a waiting season too.
God gave you a promise. He stirred something in your heart and you said yes fully and sincerely.
And now it feels like nothing is moving.
The excitement has faded. The confirmation hasn't come.
The progress isn't visible.
You're holding something from God that no one else can see yet.
And you're wondering,
God, are you still in this?
Did I hear you right?
Why are you so silent?
Why is the middle so hard? Where are you, God? Why can't I see anything happening?
Let me encourage you.
If you're waiting,
you are not behind.
You're right on schedule.
Waiting is not a punishment, it's preparation.
Waiting is not evidence that God left.
It's evidence that God is forming something deeper.
Let's take a look at how God moves in these in between places. Let's turn to scripture.
In Psalm 27, verse 14,
it says, Wait for The Lord,
be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
God repeats it twice because he knows waiting requires courage.
If we look In Galatians, chapter 4, verse 4,
the story behind the manger,
it says,
but when the fullness of time had come,
God sent forth his son.
The world had been waiting centuries for the Messiah.
Generation after generation, wondering,
when God,
when will you move?
And then,
in a quiet moment, with no announcement to kings or councils,
God stepped in at the fullness of time.
Not early,
not late,
but perfectly timed.
If we turn to Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 31, it tells us, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
We know that one, we often quote it, and we know that verse very well.
But we also know that waiting with God doesn't weaken you,
it strengthens you.
So what does waiting well actually look like?
Mary's story gives us three guiding pictures.
The first one,
she didn't wait alone.
She went to Elizabeth.
This part matters. So let's pause here for a second.
Elizabeth was Mary's older cousin, a woman who had her own miraculous story.
She and her husband, Zechariah had been unable to have children.
But in their old age, God promised Elizabeth a son.
And that son was John the Baptist, the very one who prepared the way for Jesus.
So when Mary arrived at Elizabeth's house,
Scripture says that the baby in Elizabeth's wound leaped,
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
She immediately recognized that Mary was carrying the Messiah for the first time. Mary's private obedience was now publicly confirmed.
You don't wait well in isolation.
You wait well with people who recognize what God is doing.
Let's look at the second example.
She didn't try to force the promise.
Mary didn't rush God. She didn't try to make it happen.
She trusted that what God conceived,
God would bring to life.
And in the third example,
she paid attention to the quiet signs.
Mary listened.
She reflected. And she stayed awake to God's presence,
even when he felt silent.
Waiting wasn't passive for Mary.
It was attentive.
So let me ask you again.
What do you do while you wait when nothing is happening but everything feels heavy?
When your heart wants clarity but God is inviting you into trust,
when the promise feels slow, painfully slow,
and your faith feels thin?
Here's the truth.
Waiting isn't empty.
Waiting isn't wasted.
And waiting isn't abandonment.
That is where he needs to be, right in your season of waiting.
Because waiting is where God builds the version of you who can actually carry what he promised.
Waiting is where God strengthens you with your yes. It's where your yes actually begins. Not way back when you said it,
but at the part where God prepares you and strengthens you to walk into that promise.
Advent is the season of waiting.
Holy, hopeful, heart stretching, waiting. Mary waited. The people of Israel waited.
The world waited.
And in the fullness of time, God showed up. He always does.
So as you move through the week.
Hold on to this truth.
If God began it, he is already.
Preparing to fulfill it.
So if you're looking for encouragement in your season of waiting,
here's a very simple affirmation to anchor this week.
God is working in my waiting.
What he started in me,
he will.
Finish in his perfect time.
Just say that quietly.
Say it.
When doubt rises. Say it when the silence feels long. Say it until your heart believes again. Until next time, I want you to.
Keep asking, keep listening, and keep trusting. Right here in the middle of the wait.
Before you go, if this episode stirred.
Something in you,
don't let it stop here.
Join the Growing My Question for you community@myquestion4you.com and get my free Reflection Guide. It follows along with each weekly episode and gives you more ways to dive in and grow closer to God.
And you'll also get my weekly email called A Quiet Invitation, where you can take the conversation even deeper.
And if you believe someone else needs to hear this, I hope that you would please share it, tag it, or.
Post it to your story.
Because every click and every share helps spread encouragement for the spirit and wisdom for the walk. Sam.
