Nothing Is Wasted : When preparation looks like opposition

Take a moment to consider this…

Everything unfolding right now may be preparing you for what you prayed for.

Yes—even this.

Even the delay.
Even the discomfort.
Even the frustration and the parts that look nothing like the prayer or the promise.

To the natural eye, it can feel contradictory. The growth you prayed for feels more like stretching. You prayed for peace—and encountered a storm. You prayed for clarity—yet, things couldn’t be cloudier and more uncertain.

But consider this…

What you see happening around you doesn’t mean you’re off track. It doesn’t mean you’re not heading toward an answered prayer or a promise.

Because after all…

Preparation rarely looks like promotion.

Sometimes it looks like pruning. Other times, it’s in the storm that we become more equipped for our next.

During these times, I find myself returning to my favorite scripture, Proverbs 3:5–6, as a much-needed reminder. Verse 5 commands us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. That part—"lean not"—is often the hardest…because what we see feels real, and what we feel feels convincing.

Yet faith asks us to anchor deeper than appearances.

And then there’s the promise in Jeremiah 29:11—that His plans for us are for good and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope. Not just eventually good. Intentionally good.

That doesn’t mean every season feels good.

But it does mean nothing is wasted.

What if the hard conversations are building discernment?
What if the waiting is strengthening endurance?
What if the closed doors are refining your direction?

We often thank God for the “good"—the open doors, the answered prayers, the visible progress.

But what if we also offered gratitude for the “bad” and the “ugly”? Not because they're pleasant, but because they are purposeful.

Gratitude in difficulty shifts our posture. It steadies us. It reminds us that what feels like opposition may actually be alignment.

It may be difficult to recognize the preparation while you’re inside it.

But one day, you will look back and see that nothing was random.

Nothing was wasted.

Everything was shaping you.

So today, as you relish the good, don’t resent the uncomfortable. Hold both with open hands.

Trust beyond what you see. Praise during your process.

Thank Him—even here.

Nothing is wasted—not even this.

 Be Well,

~B🤎