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by Julie Zine Coleman @JulieZColeman

“But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 NASB

“My church is shrinking.” 

Someone next to me in a conference buffet line had just asked about my church. “We are very small,” I tried to explain.

She nodded her head. “But you are growing?” she hopefully questioned.

“Well, until recently, we have been shrinking,” I confessed. In recent years, we’d gone through a congregation split and then got hit with a scam that robbed our church blind. We were left with scant resources, both in manpower and finances. 

But during the span of those dark days, God had abundantly sustained us and was continually moving us toward spiritual maturity. We still don’t know what the future holds, because only He knows the big picture. But through His recent actions, we know He is a God we can trust.  

God does His best transformational work in dark places. It is only when that we have come to the end of ourselves that He finally has our attention. Then He works to transform us, preparing us for what lays ahead.

Where are you in your writing journey? Did you start off strong, only to be ambushed by failure to realize your goals? Has being stuck in dark places made you doubt your calling, or even the One who called you?

While we don’t know the future, God does. He also knows what we need to know when that future arrives as well. So He uses the dark to prepare us for what’s ahead.  

So maybe rather than being exasperated at where He has us at present, we should be keeping our hearts open to what He might be trying to teach us in the dark. Remain faithful to what He has called us to do right now while we wait. We may not know what will happen next week, next month, or next year. But we know about today. We know we should simply do the next thing. 

We really don’t need to do much more right now than be faithful and obedient. And as we wait, we can trust that He is at work in us and in the world around us. Even when we can’t see or feel Him. As Paul wrote the Philippians: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NASB).

Julie Zine Coleman is an award-winning author, speaker, and member of the Pastoral Team at New Hope Chapel. She is the managing editor for the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association’s devotional website, Arise Daily. Julie holds a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies and has authored four books including Unexpected Love: God’s Heart Revealed through Jesus’ Conversations with Women and On Purpose: Understanding God’s Freedom for Women through Scripture, which was named The Golden Scrolls Book of the Year as well as The Selah Awards’ Director’s Choice. Julie and her husband have four grown children, six grandchildren, and one crazy Golden Retriever puppy.