Throughout life, you often find yourself sitting in the gap between the ending of one thing and the beginning of something new. It may be a job change, or the nine months of pregnancy to becoming a parent. It is often a waiting time that will stretch you. This gap time is where God deepens your faith. In her book, “I Give Up,” by Laura Story, Laura shares what happens while we wait, “In-between is a hard place to live and a necessary part of letting go. It’s also the incredibly fertile place where our faith is strengthened, and our understanding grows,” (page 101).
I am sitting in the gap right now. I have been for about 6 years now. I have LOVED being a mother and raising a family. Seven years ago, my youngest graduated high school. As she ventured off to college, God led me to hone my writing skills and write a book. “Carol, share your faith journey.” I have completed that task as well as become a blogger (check out my book in the menu of my website).
I am waiting on my next assignment. Currently, I have no idea what God wants me to do. Have you been in a gap time where you do not know what is next? I am finding this to be rather difficult. In her book, Laura also shares, “The empty spaces in between where we are and what’s next often terrify us, yet every single letting go requires moments of uncertainty where we seem suspended between what was and what isn’t yet. During these times we don’t feel like we’re holding on to anything solid at all or being held by anyone,” (page 100). This is helping me to understand what I am experiencing. I love how God leads you to the right words that speak to your soul.
I believe God likes to place you (and me) in trying times. He gets your attention. It causes you to look up and see Him. I know that God allows you to experience these gap times for He wants you to let go (of yourself) so you will trust Him. It’s the surrendering process that must take place over and over and over. Laura also shares, “None of us surrenders just once, or ever quite surrenders all. On this side of eternity, we will never be done with surrender. It’s not a one-time decision for us. It’s a commitment to a lifestyle. Every day will bring us a new opportunity to offer our surrender to God, to let something go. And we’ll keep on giving over to God things we thought we released to Him fully once and for all but didn’t. Not because we didn’t want to, but because we couldn’t yet,” (page 105). Again, perfect words to aid in my heart that feels bewildered and alone.
As I am waiting in the gap, my husband is beginning a gap time. He is winding down from a job that has provided stability for our family. What is next for Him? That is for God to know and for Rob to discover. He is going to have to surrender what he has come to know, and let God show him something new.
Trusting God takes guts.
My daughter has guts. She chose to trust God. Her job gives her the ability to live in several states. Minnesota, where she grew up, didn’t make the cut. We moved her to a much warmer climate. She’s learning to live on her own with Jesus by her side. She sat in a gap time during COVID. She waited patiently, and God provided.
My son experienced the pregnancy gap. Alex and his wife had to prepare for two babies. They had to leave the mission field in the Middle East and come home to have them. Her pregnancy came with risks, yet God carried her and my two grandsons well. Their gap time is coming to an end as they transition to their next mission field this summer. Alex has to trust God. He has to provide for not just his wife anymore, as well as further his education in the ministry field where he feels God is leading him.
The four of us, my husband, two children, and myself, are experiencing big transitions around the same time. We are learning that God can be trusted and that He has great plans for us. Here are some final words from Laura that aid anyone facing a gap time, or a transition time, “Because of Him, we are becoming people who are able to ‘boast in the hope of the glory to God’ (Romans 5:2 NIV). We don’t just praise God for what He’s going to do for us ‘by and by’ and slog through the trials of this life with grim determination. (Wouldn’t that be awful?) Instead: ‘We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5 NIV)” (page 107)
In this life, God has made a way for you to never be alone.
No matter where you are sitting, God has you. He is leading you with everlasting love down a road that will inevitably lead you to His promised land. He is leading you home, to Him. All will be well. God can be trusted with your whole life. Keep looking up and seeing what He is doing. His love never stops pursuing you.
Carol J German 