I vaguely remember, when I was younger, my parents butting heads over something involving me and another child. My mother’s exact words still echo in my mind:

“I’m not about to be no sitting duck.”

If you’ve ever been to the South, you know — it’s full of vivid sayings and colorful references. Someone unfamiliar with the region might be totally perplexed in a conversation with one of us. But what she meant was clear: she wasn’t going to sit back and wait for trouble to show up. She was going to get ahead of it.

That sounds wise, right? Proactive. Protective. But what if waiting didn’t mean weakness?

What if waiting was exactly what God wanted us to do — so that He could show up and show Himself worthy?

What if the very thing we were praying for — the thing we needed, wanted, and longed for — was the very thing He intended to use to rock our world and bless us beyond what we imagined?

There’s power in the waiting.

Yes, it’s daunting. Yes, it can be painfully still.
But there’s also beauty in the waiting — even when the waves are crashing against your boat, even when there’s no way out in sight, like the children of Israel.
And believe it or not… there’s peace in the waiting.

And last — but definitely not least — the hardest thing to feel in the waiting is joy.
But I’ve learned something: after I came to truly know my Lord and Savior… after I began to believe in the unspeakable joy He promises…

After Jeremiah 29:11 became real to me — “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” — something changed.

Even when the enemy comes in like a flood, God raises the standard.
And I get excited — because I know the next thing turns from gloom to expectation.

That’s what we do: We give you encouragement, empowerment, and support through life’s storms.
We know Jesus sticks closer than a friend — but sometimes, it’s the smallest gestures that matter the most.

From a child, my elders instilled in me the importance of developing a relationship with our Lord and Savior. As I navigated life, I began to see scriptures play out in real time — especially Psalm 23, as God guided me through obstacles and valleys.

And most recently, one verse keeps rising in my heart, steady and true:

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”
— Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)

He is faithful.
Even in the waiting.