The Unexpected Gift of a Waiting Season
- Tara Borgonah
- Nov 20, 2025
- 5 min read
Girl, I am not usually someone who wants to sit and wait.
If you are anything like me, you probably thrive on momentum. We live in a culture that applauds the hustle, celebrates the grind, and measures worth by how many boxes we can check off our to-do lists before noon. I spent decades chasing "all the things" the world told me were necessary for success. I was running a race I thought I was winning, fueled by the adrenaline of achievement and the noise of a busy life.
But then, everything changed. A life-changing accident drastically veered my life off course, and suddenly, I had no choice but to sit and wait.
I didn’t volunteer for this pause. It wasn’t a scheduled sabbatical or a peaceful retreat. It was a jarring, screeching halt that left me feeling completely disoriented, figuratively and literally, due to the debilitating effects of a traumatic brain injury. In the blink of an eye, I went from navigating the deep, busy waters of my career and responsibilities to feeling like a fish floundering on the shore. I was desperate to get back into the hustle and bustle of the sea I knew so well.
Perhaps you find yourself in a similar place today. maybe it wasn't an accident, but a diagnosis, a job loss, a relationship ending, or simply a door that refuses to open no matter how hard you knock. If you are currently in God’s "waiting room," I want to invite you to sit with me for a while. Let’s explore what happens when the world stops spinning, and we are forced to confront the silence.
The Messy Middle: Tantrums and Pity Parties
I wish I could tell you that I accepted my new reality with grace and immediate spiritual maturity. I wish I could say I smiled, folded my hands, and whispered, "Thy will be done" from day one. But that wouldn’t be the truth.
My season of waiting started out messy. It was frustrating. It was infuriating.
When your identity is wrapped up in what you do, being unable to do anything feels like a loss of self. I threw countless meltdowns and temper tantrums. I hosted more pity parties than I care to share, inviting fear and anger as my guests of honor. I spent my energy fighting against the current, trying to force movement where God had ordained stillness.
We often look at waiting as "wasted time." We view it as the empty space between where we are and where we want to be. But eventually, I came to a quiet realization: spending my time floundering wasn't getting me anywhere. I was only hurting myself.
I needed to accept this season. And the moment I surrendered my timeline, something shifted. The waiting didn't end immediately, but its purpose changed. It ceased to be a prison and became a classroom.
Redefining True Success
In the stillness, stripped of my ability to chase worldly accolades, I was given an extraordinary opportunity: I got to know God better, and in doing so, I finally got to know myself.
When the noise of the world fades, the voice of God becomes amplifyingly clear.
During this time, through God's grace, I found the courage to walk away from the world's definition of success. For so long, I thought success looked like a certain title, a specific income, or the admiration of peers. But in the quiet of my recovery, those things lost their shine.
I began to focus my attention and efforts on becoming more like Jesus—an incredible man who went to great lengths to save a wretched sinner like me. I realized that true success isn't about what we build for ourselves; it's about who we are becoming in Him.
Scripture reminds us in Psalm 46:10 to "Be still, and know that I am God." We often quote it, but we rarely practice it. It took a forced stop for me to realize that my value wasn't in my productivity; it was in my proximity to the Savior.
A Forgotten Calling Resurfaces
It was also during this time of deep reflection that God reminded me of something from my past I had long forgotten. Buried under years of busyness and career ladders was a gentle call He had placed on my heart as a young girl. It was a simple yet profound call to encourage and support others. He had wired me to point people to Him, His Son, and His Word as powerful life-saving sources of hope, peace, and love.
For years, I had been too busy "achieving" to remember my true purpose. The noise of the "hustle" had drowned out the whisper of the Holy Spirit. It is a humbling thought: I might never have answered that call if I hadn’t been blessed with a season of waiting. The accident, the pain, the frustration—they were all necessary tools to excavate the calling that had been there all along. God had to stop me in my tracks to remind me of who I really was.
Trusting the Invisible Work
Maybe you feel like God has called you to do something, but it's not working out as you'd hoped. Perhaps you have a dream in your heart, but the path is blocked by obstacles you didn't foresee. Or maybe it just seems to be taking much longer than expected, and you feel frustrated, wondering if you misunderstood God entirely.
Sweet sister, listen closely: Just because you can't see God working in your life, don't underestimate what He is doing behind the scenes! We serve a God who works in the dark. He is planting seeds in the winter that will bloom in the spring. While you are waiting, He is orchestrating the right people, places, and resources He knows you need for the next chapter. He is refining your character so that when the door finally opens, you have the spiritual maturity to walk through it and stay there.
Isaiah 64:4 says that God "acts on behalf of those who wait for him." He isn't passive in your waiting. He is active. He is preparing the way, and more importantly, He is preparing you.
Keep Going to Him
So, what do we do in the meantime? How do we wait well? Keep going to Him in prayer. Pour out your heart—the frustration, the confusion, the desires. He can handle it. Keep asking Him to help guide your steps, even if you can only see one inch in front of you. And keep in mind that sometimes He has to slow us down, or, like in my case, stop us in our tracks altogether, to remind us of what our calling truly is. He loves us too much to let us sprint in the wrong direction. He will do whatever it takes to give us the time and wisdom we need to align our hearts with His.
Your season of waiting is not a punishment; no, sweet sister, it is a preparation. Embrace the stillness. There is a purpose in the pause, and I promise you, the One who called you is faithful to complete what He started.
What has God been teaching you in your own season of waiting? I’d love to hear your story. Please share it below.
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