Stuck In-between? by Shana Schutte

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An in-between place is when you have let go of the old, and embrace the new thing God has for you.

One afternoon several years ago as I walked through the front doors of my favorite grocery store, my heart was heavy. I feel so alone, I thought. My friend, Judy, had died unexpectedly days before from a brain aneurism and my friend Gene had died the month before.

When I reached the checkout, I made small talk with the woman in front of me. “This weather is really great, huh?” I scanned the beautiful Rocky Mountains out the large picture windows, thankful for the sun. “Yes, it’s really great. I moved here last year, and I love it.” She smiled, rolled her cart away and I found a seat where I could quietly eat my lunch. Loneliness engulfed me.

As I stood to put away my plate, the woman from the checkout approached me. “You were really nice to talk to me, but the Lord wants me to tell you something.” She faced me and looked square in my eyes. “He wants you to know that you are not alone and He wants you to know that He hears you.” Tears immediately started to roll down my cheeks, then big sobs of relief came.

God was giving me His love through a stranger. She went on. “The Lord wants you to also know that He is going to put your feet on a new foundation. I don’t know what that means, but be open to change.” We hugged, I cried some more, and she walked away.

As I drove home, I pondered these things in my heart. “God is going to do something new.”  If change meant emotional and spiritual relief, I was ready because I was in an in-between place. An in-between place is when you have let go of the old, and you are ready to embrace the new thing God has for you. As I think back to this grocery-store memory, I am thankful for God’s comfort in that present moment of loneliness, for the reminder that He knows our thoughts, is concerned with all things that concern us, and also for His affirmation that He would also be there in my future, sovereignly leading me to positive change.

Maybe you feel like you are an in-between place. You’ve let go of something old, but you are waiting on God to move you on to the new thing. Perhaps you have let go of a job, home, a friendship, dream, or calling, and you are wondering what’s next. Rest assured. Just like the woman in the grocery store told me, He is telling you: “I hear you. You are not alone. Behold! I do a new thing!” (See Isaiah 43:18-19).

God may not have revealed your new thing yet, but rest assured, it is coming because God is always at work. And, He will never stop working in our lives all the days of our lives.

While you are in your in-between place, remember not to allow your expectations blind you and make you think that God has forgotten you. It may just be that He is trying to get you to shift your focus off the old onto the new.

Keep looking to Him and waiting patiently in faith. In God’s time, in God’s way, He will reveal His plan to you, just as He did for me.