What If the Thing You’re Praying For Showed Up Tomorrow?

A story about passivity, pain, and preparing for the very thing you say you want

Let’s be real—waiting is not easy.

Whether you’re waiting on healing, a relationship, a promise God gave you, or just some peace in the middle of the chaos… it can feel like you’re sitting in the middle of a silent storm, wondering if anything is actually shifting behind the scenes.

When Waiting Starts to Feel Like Doing Nothing

For a long time, I thought waiting meant doing nothing. Just sitting still, praying, and hoping something would change. And don’t get me wrong—sometimes, being still is obedience. But other times, we confuse stillness with passivity. We confuse rest with procrastination. We confuse patience with avoidance.

And then we wonder why the promise still feels so far away.

The Question That Shifted Everything

At some point, I had to ask myself a hard question:

“If the thing I’m waiting for showed up tomorrow… would I actually be ready for it?”

The honest answer?

No.

Not mentally. Not emotionally. Not spiritually.

I was asking for blessings I hadn’t even made room for.

And that’s when I started to understand:

That waiting is preparation.

That waiting is where you become.

I Thought I Was Trusting God… But I Was Just Passive

But the truth is… I didn’t always see it that way.

I used to expect God to do it all for me, just because I was hurting. But I had to learn, God will heal you, but He won’t baby your passivity. He’s not just the God of comfort. He’s also the God of callings. And callings require action.

Passivity is bottling up emotions and pretending you’re fine when you really have questions, but instead you just go with the flow in hope of things getting better.

For years, I thought I was waiting on God when I was really just being passive.

I told myself I was trusting Him. I repeated all the right things: “God’s timing is perfect.” “He’ll come through.” But deep down, I wasn’t preparing for anything. I was sitting in fear, hoping something would just fall into place.

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t moving. I wasn’t healing. I wasn’t growing. I was just stuck—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

How Passivity Affected My Faith

And that passivity didn’t just slow down the things I was praying for… it strained my relationship with God too.

I started to confuse His silence with rejection.

I started assuming that maybe I wasn’t good enough, spiritual enough, or ready enough to be chosen.

But what I’ve come to realize is… it wasn’t about worth.

I simply wasn’t positioned.

I wanted blessings I hadn’t made room for.

I wanted breakthrough without breaking the cycles.

I wanted to receive without being refined.

It took me a while to see that sometimes we don’t need “more faith.”

We need movement.

We need obedience.

We need to stop calling fear “patience.”

Where the Passivity Came From

But here’s what I had to dig into…

This passive behavior didn’t come out of nowhere.

It was formed in me. Layer by layer, experience by experience.

Growing up, failure didn’t feel like something you learn from, it felt like punishment.

So I learned early: Don’t try if you’re not sure. Don’t speak if it might stir something up. Don’t move unless you’re guaranteed a win. It felt safer to sit still than to risk being wrong.

When Silence Becomes a Way of Life

And honestly, I got used to not having a voice.

Sometimes it was implied. Other times, I was just too scared to say what I really felt.

So I stayed silent. I shrunk. I avoided. I waited.

And over time, that waiting turned into hiding.

Small Moments Can Make A Big Impact

I’ll never forget this one moment in high school… I was on the basketball team. I wasn’t the best, but I kept showing up. One day, coach finally put me in a game.

I was nervous. I wasn’t great at remembering the drills, and it showed. I messed up. Bad.

The ball came my way and I dribbled it so hard and awkward that the other team snatched it. It felt like the gym turned against me. Coach pulled me right out of the game.

I was so embarrassed, I just wanted to disappear.

I never played again.

I’ve laughed about that moment since, but if I’m honest…

That one moment became a seed.

It told me: “If you’re not already good at something, don’t even bother.”

And I carried that into so many areas of my life… including my walk with God.

What I Wasn’t Taught About Faith

I wasn’t taught to wrestle with Him. I wasn’t taught that faith could include frustration or that questions could lead to deeper trust.

I was taught to say “trust God” even when it didn’t look like it was working.

I watched people declare promises over and over in church that never came and then watching them die with those promises still unfulfilled.

That kind of disappointment stays with you.

So I started believing that maybe… waiting was just spiritual language for nothing happening.

Where the Passivity Really Came From

The passivity didn’t come from laziness.

It came from pain.

From disappointment.

From fearing that if I moved, I’d mess something up.

From seeing people hope hard… and still be let down.

But God… He’s Still Forming Me

But here’s the part I hold on to now:

God can un-form what fear formed.

Passivity may have robbed me of time, but it hasn’t robbed me of purpose.

God is still calling me. And this time, I’m not sitting still.

Not because I have it all figured out, but because I know He does.

What Preparation Really Looks Like

Now, I’m learning that waiting doesn’t mean shrinking.

Waiting doesn’t mean hiding.

Waiting means preparing… actively, intentionally, faithfully.

Sometimes preparation looks like therapy.

Sometimes it’s forgiving people who didn’t ask for forgiveness and never said sorry.

Sometimes it’s organizing your life, cleaning your space, taking care of your health, or building something God told you to build.

Sometimes it’s just learning to rest and trust without checking the clock every five minutes.

I’m Still in the Thick of It

I’m still in the thick of it.

Still learning.

Still surrendering.

Still untangling old beliefs and unhealthy mindsets.

But I see now that God’s delays aren’t always denials, they’re divine developments.

So Let Me Ask You What I Asked Myself…

So if you’re in a season that feels quiet and like you’re in the-in-between, ask yourself the same question I had to face:

If what you’re praying for showed up tomorrow… would you be ready for it?

And if not, don’t shame yourself.

Just start preparing.

Not from a place of desperation or pressure.

But from a place of hope.

Because when the door opens, I want to walk through it whole

not broken,

not frantic,

not faking it…

but ready.