Trusting God in the Waiting: When You Don’t Know What Will Grow
What does trusting God in the waiting look like when you’ve prayed, planted, prepared—and still have no idea how the story will end?
This week, three tiny lavender plants brought that question very close to home for me.
After years of trying unsuccessfully to propagate lavender, I decided this spring to try growing it from seed. I started with about 80 seeds. Twelve little plants survived the summer, and this week I took three of them from their protected spot beside the house and planted them in the lavender field.
And I have absolutely no idea if they’re going to live.
As I was debating whether I should even plant them, this thought came to me:
If they live, there will be a lesson in the lavender.
And if they die, there will be a lesson in the lavender.
But if I’m honest, there was a little bit of a whatever attitude underneath that thought too.
Because after years of losing lavender plants, replanting, trying again, and watching things not turn out the way I hoped they would, I’m weary.
I know God can teach me through disappointment and loss.
But I found myself thinking:
Lord, I know You can teach me whether they live or die. But please…I’d really love to see what You might teach me if they live.
When Trusting God Means Waiting Without Knowing
Those three little plants made me realize that I’ve planted a lot of other things in this season of my life too.
New ideas. New creative work. Writing. Books. Dreams and possibilities that I’ve spent time planning, preparing and praying about.
And now comes the part I don’t particularly enjoy:
Waiting to see what grows.
I love the planting. I love creating, planning and figuring things out.
But eventually I reach the place where I can’t control the outcome.
I can plant a lavender seed, but I can’t make the roots grow.
I can create something meaningful, but I can’t control how people respond to it.
And when something I’ve prayed about doesn’t turn out the way I expected, I sometimes begin questioning whether I heard God correctly at all.
Maybe you’ve asked some of those questions too.
Did I really hear God?
Am I where He wants me to be?
How long am I supposed to wait?
What if what I planted never grows?
Ecclesiastes 11:4–6 and the Uncertainty of Planting
In this episode of Rooted & Rested, I’m reflecting on Ecclesiastes 11:4–6, a passage that acknowledges something I would really rather not acknowledge:
We don’t always know what will succeed.
We can watch the wind and wait for perfect conditions, or we can sow what has been placed in our hands—even though we cannot control what happens next.
That’s difficult for those of us who would really prefer for God to hand us the complete plan ahead of time. 😂
But perhaps trusting God with the outcome doesn’t mean pretending we don’t care what happens.
Maybe we can genuinely hope for something while still surrendering what we cannot control.
Maybe we can say:
I planted it.
I’m going to tend it.
I really hope it grows.
And right now…I don’t know.
Sharing the Story Before I Know the Ending
We often hear stories of faith after someone already knows the ending.
We hear how God gave someone an idea, how she stepped out in faith, how she waited—and then we hear about the beautiful thing that happened.
But sometimes the hardest part gets condensed or forgotten:
the middle.
The waiting.
The uncertainty.
The questioning.
The disappointment.
The wondering if you heard God correctly in the first place.
I don’t want to forget that part.
So this episode is different.
I’m sharing the story before I know what happens.
Those three tiny lavender plants are still sitting in my field.
I don’t know whether they’ll survive.
And there are other things I’ve planted in this season that I don’t know the outcome of either.
I’m somewhere between planting and knowing.
Maybe you are too.
In This Episode
We’ll talk about:
- Growing lavender from seed after years of unsuccessful propagation
- What three tiny lavender plants revealed about waiting and control
- Trusting God when you don’t know the outcome
- What Ecclesiastes 11:4–6 says about planting without knowing what will succeed
- Why unanswered questions can make us wonder whether we really heard God
- Wanting to see fruit after seasons of disappointment
- Why I’m sharing this story before I know how it ends
- Learning to walk with God in the uncomfortable space between planting and knowing
Scripture
Ecclesiastes 11:4–6
If you’re waiting to see what will grow from something you’ve planted, prayed over or hoped for, this episode is for you.
I don’t have five steps for waiting well.
Actually, I still hate waiting. 😂
But I’m learning that I can keep walking with God even when I don’t know the ending.
Walk with me a bit as we walk with Him.