Be Strong
Trusting God in the Slow Work
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to teach from Haggai 2 at a women’s retreat, and I keep coming back to it.
The question we started with in this session was simple, but it lingered long after the session ended:
Have you ever done exactly what you believe God asked you to do… and still felt discouraged?
Because if I’m honest, that’s where I’ve found myself more often than I’d like to admit. Not in disobedience, but in the tension of obedience that feels small, slow, and unseen.
In Haggai 2, God’s people are in that exact place. They’ve returned to the work of rebuilding the temple. They’re doing what God asked them to do in Haggai 1, and yet, they’re discouraged, not because they stopped obeying, but because they started comparing.
The new temple didn’t look like the old one. It felt smaller and less significant. And in their eyes, that meant it mattered less.
God’s response is striking. He doesn’t tell them to do more or try harder. He simply says:
“Be strong… and work… for I am with you.” (Haggai 2:4)
Their strength wasn’t meant to come from visible results, but from the steady, unchanging presence of God.
He’s been teaching me this in a very real, tangible way through my daughter (you can read more of her story here). This season with Charlie continues to stretch me. There are still milestones we’re waiting on, still progress that feels slow, still moments where comparison creeps in quietly and asks, Why not yet? Why her?
And so much of my life right now is made up of small, repetitive, often unseen work of motherhood and ministry.
But here’s what God is teaching me: His presence is not solely tied to visible progress.
He is not waiting for things to “look different” before He draws near. He is already here, in the repetition, in the questions, in the slow work.
And Haggai 2 reminds me that God is always doing more than we can see.
He tells His people that the “latter glory” will be greater than the former, not because the structure looks more impressive, but because His purposes are bigger than their perspective. What felt small was actually part of something much greater.
That’s the invitation for us, too.
To keep going.
To stay faithful.
To trust that what feels insignificant may be part of something eternal.
Because your obedience is not small.
The quiet things, the ones no one applauds, the ones that feel repetitive, the ones that seem to yield little visible fruit, those are often the very places where God is doing His deepest work.
So if you’re in a season where it feels slow…be strong. Not because everything looks the way you hoped, but because God is still with you.
In Christ,
Samantha
Resources and Recommendations
What I’m Reading:
What I’m Reading:
For Him, Not Them by Angela Sanders
Angela is a dear friend, and I’m so excited about this book! It doesn’t release until May 18, but it’s worth pre-ordering now! Angela shares how God met her when she was living out of obligation rather than devotion and performing for people rather than resting in God. Then, she wisely applies Scripture and personal experience to learn how to change your motivation and walk in the freedom that comes from following Christ.
Set Apart for More by Tasha Calvert
Tasha Is coming to speak at a women’s event at my home church next week, and I’m so excited! This book is a Scripture-forward deep dive into what it practically looks like to be holy. Tasha’s writing is easy to read and fun, but full of so much truth. Highly recommend!
Recommended Resources
The Daily Grace Co. Guide to Studying the Bible
This PDF requires you to fill out a form to download, but if you’re new to studying and/or teaching the Bible, or you just want to learn about different approaches, this guide is easy to follow, helpful, and practical.
If you’re a mom with kids in the home, this has been SO helpful for me in navigating different conversations with my boys. There is an online course, but honestly, their Instagram is full of great tips, too!
*I don’t get any perks or commissions from those links. I just enjoy sharing resources that have helped my family keep our eyes on Jesus.
Questions and Answers
Can you share more about the “Discipleship-group” with your kids?
Several months ago, I broadly answered the question, “What does discipleship look like in your home?” (You can find my response here), and since then, I’ve had a few people ask me to share more details about our Bible time.
My oldest two boys are 9 and 7, so once a week, my husband makes a big breakfast, and we wake them up around 6:30 for a 30ish-minute time studying the Word before school with my husband and me. Every once in a while, our 4-year-old joins, too, but we typically let him sleep so we can go a little deeper with the big two.
If you’ve ever been part of a Discipleship Group (D-Group), that’s essentially the model we are following. So, we spend time reading together (right now we are going through John), focusing on teaching them to observe, interpret, and apply the text. For us, this looks like frequent pauses to ask questions. For example, last week we read about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11), and a few examples of questions we stopped and asked were:
Why do you think Jesus waited to go to Lazarus when He heard he was sick?
Why does Jesus talk about light and darkness here? Where else in John did we talk about light?
What does resurrection mean?
What does Jesus weeping teach us about God?
Each week looks a little different as far as how much we cover, but let’s just say we are taking it slow…I think we’ve been in John for about 9 months now, haha!
Aside from Bible reading, we also spend time praying together and are working on incorporating some scripture memory and accountability questions where we can. Our goal is to improve Bible literacy, teach them to study the Word on their own, and model practical discipleship that hopefully sticks with them for their lifetimes.
Lastly, here are a few family photos from April. Highlights included Charlie turning 2, Easter with family, a few fun speaking engagements, and lots of family time.
If you haven’t already, I’d love you to join me as I share more about what God’s teaching me each month!
In Christ,
Loved this, Samantha!