What Are You Carrying That Cannot Enter Your Next Season?
Updated: Sep 1
My pastor cares for his ninety-seven-year-old grandmother. Those who know her understand that she is a determined woman who prefers to do things independently. That strength is admirable, but it can also create challenges when walking has become difficult.
Despite her limited mobility, she sometimes pushes herself beyond what her body can safely manage. A few months ago, after one such attempt resulted in a fall, my pastor needed to take her to the hospital for stitches. I drove them there and waited with them until the doctor called her name.
Recently, that experience returned to my mind as I reflected on the other waiting rooms we encounter in life.
If you are currently waiting for something and frequently find yourself saying, “I cannot wait any longer,” today’s reflection is for you.
What Happens in Life’s Waiting Rooms?
Waiting seasons can be difficult. They may leave us feeling powerless, uncertain, and particularly vulnerable.
When we face a problem, many of us would rather take immediate action than remain still. Doing something gives us the impression that we are regaining control. Yet some situations cannot be hurried, manipulated, or resolved through our own efforts.
In a hospital waiting room, worrying does not change when the doctor will call your name. In the same way, anxiety cannot always accelerate the changes we hope to see in life.
Not every delay is caused by God, and waiting does not mean that we should ignore responsibilities or remain passive when wise action is possible. Yet God can use a season of waiting to reveal what constant activity has allowed us to avoid.
Waiting may expose impatience, pride, fear, resentment, or a desire to control other people and outcomes. It may also uncover grief and wounds that still need compassionate attention.
The waiting room can become a place where chaos is brought into order, hidden pain begins to heal, and our character is prepared for what comes next.
Preparing for a New Season
Times of transition often reveal vulnerabilities that need to be addressed before we can carry the responsibilities and blessings of a new season.
If the Holy Spirit draws our attention to something unhealthy within us, ignoring it does not make it disappear. Whatever remains unaddressed may follow us into the next chapter and continue influencing our relationships, decisions, and responses.
Before asking God to move us forward, we may need to ask:
What was left unresolved in my previous season?
Perhaps it is unforgiveness, bitterness, disappointment, unhealthy dependence, manipulative behaviour, or a pattern of reacting from fear. Maybe it is a wound we have covered so carefully that we almost forgot it was still there.
To stand with greater strength in a new season, we need the courage to face where we are today.
Allowing Christ’s Light Into the Heart
A daily walk with Jesus includes learning to wait prayerfully and quietly before Him. In that stillness, we can invite the Holy Spirit to reveal attitudes, wounds, and patterns that need healing and transformation.
When the soul has been wounded, holding tightly to resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, or chronic dissatisfaction can prolong our pain and keep us emotionally connected to a season God is inviting us to leave.
Opening our hearts to examination is not about condemning ourselves. It is about allowing the truth and compassion of Christ to reach the places we have avoided.
Old wounds can distort the way we see ourselves, other people, and present circumstances. They may keep us trapped in cycles of defensiveness, pride, resentment, or powerlessness. Healing begins when we allow those hidden places to come into the light.
Scripture says: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” - 1 John 1:7
As I reflect on this verse, I think about several broken relationships in my own life. I seem to be passing through a season of relational challenges.
In some of these relationships, genuine reconciliation would require change from both sides. I cannot control another person’s willingness to acknowledge a problem, take responsibility, or rebuild trust. However, I can ask God to examine my own heart and help me address my shortcomings.
Reconciliation is not always immediately possible, but I can still choose honesty, forgiveness, healthy boundaries, and a heart that remains open to God’s work.
Seeing Ourselves More Clearly
In my journey of personal growth, I have discovered that when I allow the light of Christ to illuminate my soul, I am often surprised by how inaccurately I have viewed myself, other people, or a particular situation. This process has happened many times. It has brought correction, but it has also brought freedom.
As God has led me through deeper layers of healing, I have discovered wells of creativity within myself that I did not know existed. What initially felt like painful digging eventually uncovered gifts, insights, and new ways of expressing hope.
A Prayerful Practice for Your Waiting Season
Today, I invite you to reflect prayerfully on 1 John 1:7 and wait quietly for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
You might begin by asking:
Jesus, what am I carrying from my previous season?
Is there a wound I have avoided?
Am I holding resentment or unforgiveness toward someone?
The waiting process can become a place of healing, forgiveness, renewal, and preparation. Keep allowing God to work gently through the hard places in your heart.
If dreams about hospitals or healing begin to appear during this season, you might prayerfully reflect on what those images mean to you. Dreams should be approached with humility and discernment, but they may sometimes help us recognize emotions or themes we are already processing.
When you experience healing, consider sharing your testimony with someone you trust. The healing God brings into your life may eventually become encouragement for another person.
Your story does not need to be dramatic to be valuable. Even a small testimony of forgiveness, renewed strength, or restored hope can refresh someone who is still waiting for their name to be called. And yes—please feel free to share it with me too.
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