Have you ever been in a season for so long that it seems hard to recall when things were different?  Our circumstances, thought only to be temporary, are now etched as if in stone.  We assume new normals that are anything but that.  We seem stuck between where we are, and where we want to be.  

I’ve been here for a while now. 

It’s odd, I know, but sometimes I narrate inside my head what people might say of me as they see me walking my dogs in my neighborhood “Oh, you remember her… She’s the one with all those kids… The one who used to drive that red Expedition… the one who….”  On and on.  I feel like I’m recognized more for who I was, because I am not yet who I am becoming in my new season.   

I’m still in the valley of in-between.

Truth be told, I’m still getting used to the way things are now.  Things have changed a bit. I no longer have to come up with four different Halloween costumes on a budget and do it the night before Trick or Treating. I don’t have to rush home in time to meet the bus, or dash a double box of Hamburger Helper off the stove and onto the table amidst book bags and homework piles.  

The pace of my life is decidedly different now.  I am decidedly different… And though I no longer have need to recite multiplication tables or quiz kids on their spelling lists in-between bites of oatmeal, my life is still busy.  It’s just not how I envisioned it would be at this stage.  There are labels affixed to me now that I could never have imagined before. 

I am almost an “empty nester,” “divorced,” and in the not-too distant future, one day I’ll be a “Gigi.”  Around and around we go. 

What I know of the in-between, is that we do not always see the measurement of our progress.  It happens to us so incrementally — a fear lessened here, a strength gained there.  We resolve and heal and prosper in little ways, and soon they add up.  We notice we lay awake at night just a little less, we smile just a little more… We accept hard things bit by bit.

The truth is, we don’t always go from glory to glory.  We have to walk in the valley to get to the next mountain top.  Sometimes we have to go around the same mountain for a while until we master the climb, until we learn what we are supposed to learn.  

All the while, God is working it out and working on us.  We are circling, yes.  But each time, we are elevating just a little bit higher.  

We are more than our circumstances.  We are more than our used to be’s, more than our labels, more than our mistakes, more than our heartaches, more than our successes,  more than our failures.  We are His.  He has plans for our tomorrows that are good, that will prosper us and give us joy.  

 We are being transformed even when we do not yet see it.

I know that it doesn’t always feel like it. I know that we would rather skip this step.  I know that the trials in the valley can be long and arduous.

But I also know that God is with us always.  He wants only for us to trust Him. He wants for us to keep putting one foot after the other and to walk in faith that where He is leading us will be worth the journey to get there.  

It’s in the in-between where we find our hope for what comes next. 

Know that even when you cannot measure it, you are making progress.  God will honor your faith, He hears your prayers, He wants you to lean on Him.

The way forward is not always straight.  It is found by looking up.

I’m climbing that mountain right along with you, sister.  

You’re doing better than you think you are.

Keep going.  

Mary Bryant is the author of "When He Walks Away… Hearing God When Your Husband Leaves Your Marriage,” a 5-Star Rated book available on Amazon