*This is an excerpt from Oh My Soul: Encountering God in Honest, Unconventional (and Sometimes Messy) Prayer, available for purchase at Amazon and anywhere books are sold.

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God…just tell me. Which way? This thing, or that thing?

We ask for doors to open, doors to shut, and when we go to check, they’re swinging back and forth on their hinges. Not helpful. This isn’t what I asked for.

He says, What did you ask for, Love?

And I think, oh…nothing much. Just an answer. A clear answer. A neon sign. Something really bright with flashing arrows would be perfect.

I don’t usually use those. Especially when I already told you what to do.

And there’s the rub.

He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

– Exodus 3:12, ESV

And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

– Joshua 3:13

Step in. You have to get your feet wet first. Walk where I tell you…and then watch Me hold the waters back.

Confirmation comes after obedience, not before: the waters won’t move while we stall at the shoreline. We think we want a sign for directions, but the sign He wants to give us is recognition for achievement. A crown.

We are so busy asking for excuses not to use our faith that we miss the opportunity to win the medal at the end of obedience.

You must rely on Me. Trust to the last uttermost limit. Trust and be not afraid. You must depend on Divine Power only. I have not forgotten you. Your help is coming. You shall know and realize My Power.

Endurance is faith tried almost to the breaking point. You must wait, and trust, and hope, and joy in Me. You must not depend on man but on Me, on Me, your Strength, your Help, your Supply.

– God Calling, edited by A.J. Russell

Sometimes when we say we are waiting on Him, the truth is…we’re just not trusting Him. We settle for so little in the stalling to obey.

How do we tell the difference? Are we stalling, or are we waiting?

Did you do what I already told you, Love?

Well, yes. I mean, sort of. Mostly, I think.

And I realize I sound a lot like my son when I ask him if he made his bed in the morning. And almost always, the truth is…no.

No, not really. I didn’t really do it all the way, just sorta spread the top blanket around to cover up the wrinkly sheets underneath. I thought that would be good enough.

And God tells me the same thing I tell my son: Go back and check again. Dig a little deeper, more than just making things look good on the surface. Do it right once, and you won’t have to do it over and over. You won’t have to keep asking me if it’s done, because you’ll know it is.

When we are stalling, looking for a sign, what we are really asking is, Is it good enough?

But when we are waiting on Him after the leap has really happened, we’re all-in, without a back-up plan. We won’t be looking for the rip cord in the parachute, because we didn’t bring one.