Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

The Quiet In-Between

There is a version of my life I don’t often put into words. It is not a dramatic struggle. It is something quieter than that, and harder to explain.

Not the one people can easily describe: roles, routines, responsibilities, all the visible things that make sense on the surface. But the version that lives underneath it all. The one that never really introduces itself but is always there.

It starts early, sometimes before the day has even fully begun. My mind is already moving through what needs to get done, what time I need to leave, what I might forget on the counter, what still isn’t finished from yesterday, and what’s waiting for me later in the day.

Some days it feels like I’m holding too many threads at once. Appointments, conversations I still need to respond to, things I promised I’d take care of—none of them fully set down long enough to rest.

And maybe you know that feeling too. When nothing is wrong exactly, but everything is already mentally “in motion” before you’ve even had a chance to settle into the day.

For a long time, I thought that meant something was wrong with me. That I should be able to quiet my mind more easily. That I should be able to hold life with more ease than this.

But I don’t see it that way anymore.

This is just how I move through the world.

And I’m learning not to fight it in the same way I used to. Instead, I’m learning to bring it to God exactly as it is. Not the organized version. Not the cleaned-up version. But the unfinished middle of it all.

The thoughts I haven’t sorted yet.

The questions I haven’t answered.

The things I can’t quite name yet, but still feel.

Sometimes I don’t even have the right words when I pray. It is not polished or structured. It is more like a quiet surrender in the middle of everything.

God, You see this even when I don’t fully understand it.

There’s a verse that keeps meeting me in that place:

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” — Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)

I used to think I had to understand everything before I brought it to God. As if clarity came first and surrender came after.

But I am learning it does not work that way.

Awareness is not the same as control.

And carrying things internally does not mean I was ever meant to carry them alone.

This quiet in-between space no one sees is real in the small pauses of everyday life, in moments when something simple reminds me how quickly my mind can outpace me. It is like standing in a room and not remembering why I walked in, because my mind has already moved somewhere else.

It is where I am still becoming. Where things are still forming. Where I am still being shaped in ways I do not always recognize in real time.

Quietly. Honestly. Not alone.

And maybe that is where I meet God most truthfully, not in what I can fully explain, but in what I am still learning to understand.

What we carry quietly has a way of shaping how we see everything else. So maybe tending to the inner life matters more than I once realized.

Not everything has to be resolved before I bring it to His hands.
Some things are meant to rest there while He unfolds them in His time.

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Filed under Faith, Personal reflections

A Daughter’s Reflection

Mama:

She wasn’t the kind of woman people called strong.

She didn’t command a room or always make the wisest choices. She didn’t have the steady confidence I sometimes envied in other mothers.

My mama was flawed in ways that showed. Tender in places where life had been anything but gentle. And somehow, without either of us planning it, I became the strong one.

I stepped into that role way too young, long before I knew what it meant. A role never meant for a daughter, let alone a child. I became her steady ground. Her confidant. Her shield. And slowly, quietly, I started mothering my own mama.

I learned to read her eyes and knew when she was hurt or afraid. I carried feelings too heavy for a child to hold. I filled in gaps I didn’t even have words for yet. My childhood ended before it really got started.

And yet, it shaped me. It made me responsible. Watchful. Tougher than I wanted to be. But it also left me tired in ways I wouldn’t understand until years later.

Still … she was my mama. And I loved her. We all did.

Love doesn’t always grow where it’s supposed to. Sometimes it pushes through the hardest places and blooms anyway. Because God knows how to make something beautiful out of what’s been broken. Mama may not have modeled the kind of strength others admire. But she gave me something deeper without meaning to: space to find my own strength. I learned to recognize fragility up close. A kind of empathy I had to discover on my own. And grit, because someone had to hold the line. And when mine ran out, I learned to lean on God.

Loving a parent who couldn’t fully be there for you is a tender, kind of tangled ache. It isn’t resentment or blame. It’s a quiet knowing. I always knew she loved me, and she knew I loved her. And I believe she did the best she could with what she had. Even if what she had fell short. What she couldn’t give, God supplied. He filled the gaps with His grace, His presence, and the way He kept showing up for me.

Mama had six of us. She was ours—flawed, fragile, human, and deeply loved. She wasn’t perfect, and neither was I. But we were perfect for each other.

Missing her today reminds me that even fragile love can grow into something good in God’s hands. What she couldn’t give, God provided. It didn’t happen overnight. In the places that felt unfinished, God planted healing, resilience, and a deeper faith. I wouldn’t know this kind of faith without that journey.

It may not be everyone’s story. But it’s mine. And it shaped me.

If you’re missing someone complicated and imperfect today, I hope you feel seen. Love doesn’t have to be flawless to shape us.

I’m missing my mama today.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mama. I’m still here because of you—

carrying the grit you placed in me,

held by God’s grace,

with a heart full of memories.

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Filed under Mother's Day, motherhood, Parentification

Be Still and Know …

Lately, I’ve been noticing how uncomfortable it feels to be between versions of yourself.

Not who you used to be.
Not quite who you’re becoming.
Just … here.

This in-between space doesn’t come with clear language or tidy timelines. No announcement says, “Congratulations, you’ve officially outgrown this season!” No burning bush. No audible voice. Just a quiet, persistent sense that God is doing something, even if He hasn’t explained it yet.

Instead, it shows up through restlessness. Prayers sound different from how they used to. There is a subtle awareness that what once fit now feels a little too tight. Like Saul’s armor on David—heavy, restrictive, and not meant for what’s ahead.

For a long time, I thought that feeling meant something was wrong. That I was behind. That I needed to hurry up and figure things out. Now I’m starting to think it might mean the opposite.

Scripture is full of in-between seasons. Moses tending sheep. David waiting between anointing and kingship. The disciples sitting in the upper room were promised power but told to wait. Growth in God’s divine plan rarely looks rushed or efficient. Often, it looks like waiting without a full explanation.

Most of the time, growth feels like uncertainty. Like pausing. Like standing still long enough to realize that your old answers don’t work anymore. The new ones haven’t been revealed yet. And honestly? That can be terrifying.

We live in a world that rewards clarity. People want quick testimonies and clean timelines. They are curious about what God is doing. They want to know where you’re headed and how it all turns out. Preferably, they want it in a neat paragraph.

But faith doesn’t always move in straight lines. Sometimes God leads us in circles, not to confuse us, but to deepen us. Sometimes He asks us to trust Him without handing us the next step in advance.

I’m learning that this in-between season is sacred ground.

It’s where God gently removes what was built out of fear or performance.
It’s where He exposes expectations that were never His to begin with.
It’s where He teaches us to listen rather than strive.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are days when I pray for clarity and instead receive silence. Days when I want direction and feel invited into stillness. There are days when I wonder if I should be doing more. Perhaps God is asking me to do less, notice more.

But I’m beginning to see that not every season is about action. Some seasons are about alignment.

Alignment with God’s voice.
Alignment with His timing.
Alignment with who He’s shaping us to become.

That kind of awareness doesn’t always look productive. Sometimes it looks like resting when the world says rush. Sometimes it looks like trusting God’s work underground, where no one sees growth happening yet.

If you’re in this place, feeling unsure, unsettled, or unfinished, hear this: you are not behind. You are not failing. God doesn’t rush what He is refining.

You don’t owe the world a fully formed version of yourself. You owe God quiet obedience. You owe yourself patience while He finishes His work.

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14)

So if today feels slow or unclear, let it be. The same God who called you is still the same God with you in the waiting. Trust that He is forming something majestic beneath the surface, even if you can’t name it yet.

This isn’t a pause in your life. It is your life:

Held.

Guided.

Sustained by God.

And it’s allowed to be unfinished.

Remember: Stillness is not the absence of movement—it is the presence of trust.

Running in Heels: A Memoir of Grit and Grace is available on Amazon. It comes in paperback, hardcover, and E-book and also available in audio. Soon, it will be translated into Spanish! It is perfect for readers walking through their own in-between seasons.

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Filed under Christian Reflection, seasons of life