Planting Seeds in the Waiting:
Finding Purpose in Seasons of Unanswered Prayer
by Carissa Krey
If you have lived in the Midwest, you may have experienced snow in late May or early October. Seasons can be confusing and seem as though the timing is off. While snow in May seems strange and out of season, the Lord has a purpose for it. The prophet Isaiah said, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10–11).
For the last four and a half years, I have found myself in a strange season—a season of waiting. We lost our first child to miscarriage and have yet to conceive another. Waiting can be so hard, especially after the loss of a child and all the hopes and dreams that come with it. As I’ve waited, I’ve learned there is something beautiful and valuable about a waiting season: who you become in the process of waiting.
It hasn’t always been easy to wait, especially when I watch other people receive the gift for which I’ve been waiting. I have watched month after month and year after year as women all around me have babies—coworkers, close friends, strangers, and even four of my siblings. Sometimes it feels like God has chosen everyone but me to be a mother. I have felt rejected, unnoticed, and passed over. I have felt broken, as if my body fails me again and again.
Through it all, God has taught me that his promises are true, and he has abundance for each of his children. Even when others receive the very thing we desire, they haven’t stolen a blessing from us.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in a waiting season and aren’t sure how to get through it. Whether it’s waiting for the right career door to open, the right person to marry, the right time for babies, or maybe the right home in which to retire, we’ve all found ourselves waiting for something. There have been more than a few times in the last four years that I have thrown up my hands to heaven and begged God for a baby. Other times, I’ve found myself sobbing while driving down the highway, barely able to see through my tears. I have wondered how to trust God when I feel so defeated, confused, and disappointed. But I’ve learned that waiting is only wasted when we don’t see its worth. Leaning in and listening to the heartbeat of Jesus can be the most comforting thing, especially in seasons of waiting.
I love children and have been a nanny many times throughout my teenage years and adult life. But when I became pregnant in 2017, I stepped away from nannying to step into motherhood—or so I thought, until our loss. While I could have every reason to avoid caring for other people’s children, in the summer of 2021 I felt an invitation from the Lord to step back in. As I asked for more of the Lord’s heart for this assignment, he began to remind me of the amazing gift I have to love and nurture children so well. He asked if I’d be willing to use my gift with other people’s children in this season of waiting, even if it looked different from what I had in mind.
Waiting is only wasted when we don’t see its worth.
Jesus used the parable of the talents to teach his disciples about how to be stewards of the talents he had given each of them. “The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things’” (Matthew 25:20–21).
When we have a gift or talent, we should be willing to use it however the Lord asks of us, not just when or how we think we should. Don’t waste a gift that God has given you in a waiting season. Learning to grow and become the best version of yourself in this season will be one of the biggest blessings in the next.
If you find yourself in a season of the waiting, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions:
- How can I become the best version of myself in this season while I wait?
- Who can I love, bless, and encourage?
- What seeds can I sow in this season that will bear fruit in the next?
Carissa is a wife and dog mom who enjoys deep conversations and walks in nature. @carissalynnkrey
Scripture quotations are from the New International Version of the Bible.