There’s this quiet lie that sneaks into our lives sometimes — the idea that we have to be further along to belong.
More healed. More certain. More spiritual.
As if God only meets us once we’ve got it all figured out.
But faith — real, living, breathing faith — has never worked that way.
God doesn’t wait for you to arrive somewhere else before showing up.
Grace meets you right here.
Maybe that’s the most underrated truth of the gospel: that belonging comes before becoming.
Before belief feels solid. Before the questions settle. Before you’ve cleaned up the mess or solved the mystery.
When Jesus invited people to follow Him, He didn’t say, “Come back when you’re ready.”
He said, “Come and see.”
Come as you are.
Come messy. Come unsure. Come anyway.
I think about how much energy we spend trying to measure up — to someone else’s version of faith, or success, or peace. We treat spiritual growth like a ladder, always trying to reach the next rung, forgetting that God is already holding us steady on the one we’re on.
Maybe the work of faith isn’t about climbing at all. Maybe it’s about noticing.
Noticing the beauty of what’s right here — the light through the window, the kindness of a stranger, the quiet ache that reminds you your heart is still tender enough to feel.
Sometimes spiritual maturity looks less like “doing more” and more like learning to breathe again.
To let go of the guilt that whispers you’re not enough.
To trust that the God who began a good work in you hasn’t given up just because you’ve slowed down.
Faith isn’t a performance. It’s a relationship. And relationships are built in ordinary days — through conversation, through stillness, through presence.
So wherever you find yourself today — steady or scattered, hopeful or holding on — remember this:
You don’t have to be more of anything to belong to God.
You already do.
And in that belonging, you’ll keep becoming — slowly, beautifully, in your own time and way.
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” — Exodus 14:14
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Reflection Question
Where in your life do you feel God inviting you to stop striving and simply be?