Episode 38: What If God Is Already Making a Way?

What do you do when you can’t see what God is doing?

Maybe a door closed.

A plan fell apart.

A diagnosis changed everything.

A dream took a completely different route.

Or maybe you’re simply standing inside an unfinished story, holding one strange piece and wondering where it could possibly belong.

Sometimes we recognize God’s provision only in hindsight. In this conversation, we’ll look at the roads that changed, the bridges that appeared, the provision that was already moving before I knew I needed it—and what faith can look like when we genuinely don’t know what God is doing.

Because maybe not seeing the way doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Featured Quote

“Your inability to see what God is doing has never been the boundary of what God can do.”

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About This Episode

I would really prefer to know what God is doing.

Preferably now.

With details.

A timeline would be lovely.

And if there’s a spreadsheet available, even better.

But when I look backward over my life, some of the clearest evidence of God’s faithfulness comes from things I couldn’t understand while they were happening.

I went to college planning to become a teacher—until that route abruptly closed. Sociology became the unexpected path instead, eventually shaping the way I understand people, families, behavior, healing, and the stories beneath our stories.

Years later, I lost a job in an extraordinarily toxic workplace while our family was preparing to move to Memphis. I couldn’t see what came next.

Then a friend needed exactly the skills I had for almost exactly the six months I needed work.

It wasn’t another destination.

It was a bridge.

And years later, when I was diagnosed with Moyamoya and learned I needed two brain surgeries, I discovered something even more remarkable.

Before I knew I was sick…

Before I knew I would need surgery…

Before I knew enough to pray for the doctor I would need…

An experienced Moyamoya surgeon had already moved from Boston to Houston.

None of those stories means painful things were secretly good.

It doesn’t mean every closed door leads to something better.

And it certainly doesn’t mean we get to walk into someone else’s pain and announce that we know what God is doing.

Sometimes we don’t know.

But maybe faith can leave room for something else to be true:

What I can see is not everything God is doing.

Key Takeaways

  • Not seeing a way forward doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
  • A closed route is not always the end of the deeper calling.
  • Sometimes the dream survives even when the route changes.
  • A bridge doesn’t have to become a destination to have been exactly what you needed.
  • God’s provision may begin moving before you even know what you’ll need.
  • Recognizing redemption does not require calling painful or harmful things good.
  • Understanding why someone hurt you doesn’t require pretending they didn’t hurt you.
  • Compassion and accountability can exist together.
  • We should be careful about assigning God’s purposes to someone else’s pain.
  • Faith can say, “I don’t know what God is doing,” without losing hope.
  • Sometimes the next faithful step is action—and sometimes it’s waiting.
  • Our inability to see the whole picture has never limited God’s ability to work beyond it.

Featured Resource

💛 Free Episode Reflection: The Pieces I Can’t See Yet

If there’s a piece of your life you can’t make sense of right now, this free Episode Reflection gives you a place to sit with it without forcing yourself to find an explanation.

You’ll explore what you actually know, what you wish you knew, what belongs to you right now, what you can entrust to God, and the evidence of His faithfulness already behind you.

Not so you can figure out what God is doing.

So you can stop requiring yourself to.

→ Download Episode Reflection

Continue the Conversation

Devotional 38: Before You Know What to Ask For

This companion devotional continues the conversation by turning our attention toward the God who knows our needs before we do.

We’ll explore what it means to trust God’s awareness beyond our own—to pray about what we know, entrust Him with what we don’t, and recognize that His provision isn’t limited to the prayers we knew enough to pray.

→ Listen to Devotional 38

Continue the Journey

If today’s conversation resonated with you, you may also enjoy:

Related Resources

Together, these conversations explore unanswered prayer, waiting, hindsight, provision, redemption, and learning to trust God while we’re still standing inside the unfinished story.

Reflection Question

Think about one place in your life right now where you can’t see the way forward.

A decision.

A relationship.

Your health.

Your work.

Your family.

A dream.

A prayer.

Something that ended.

Something that hasn’t begun.

Then ask yourself:

Where am I assuming there is no way simply because I can’t see one?

You don’t have to figure out what God is doing.

Instead, ask:

What is actually mine to do next?

Maybe there’s a step to take.

Maybe there’s a conversation to have.

Maybe there’s another route to consider.

Maybe you need to ask for help.

Or maybe there genuinely isn’t anything to do yet.

Maybe the next faithful step is waiting.

Final Thought

We live forward.

We understand backward.

And even then, only partially.

I can look backward now and see a sociology degree that became a lens for work I couldn’t yet imagine.

A lost job that became a bridge.

A move home that became provision before a diagnosis.

A surgeon who moved across the country before I knew I needed him.

Painful experiences God has redeemed without asking me to pretend they were good.

And the presence of a God who was already at work before I even knew how to recognize Him.

But this time, I’m not telling you the entire story from the safety of hindsight.

I’m still living one.

I don’t know what Healer & Hope Giver ultimately becomes.

I don’t know which things I’m building are destinations and which are bridges.

I don’t know which doors will open or close.

And maybe I don’t need to.

Because faith isn’t knowing what God is going to do.

Hope isn’t pretending we understand what He’s doing.

Sometimes it’s simply leaving room for Him to be God.

So when you’re standing in front of the closed door…

Holding the piece that doesn’t make sense…

Looking toward a road you can’t see…

You don’t have to force yourself to believe you know what’s coming.

Maybe you can simply whisper:

I don’t know what You’re doing, God.

But what if You’re already making a way?