This Might Take a While

On my music journey, nothing has ever come fast. Any time I’ve tried anything, it’s taken much longer than I would have hoped or expected. And if you can relate, you’re in the right place.

I recorded a whole episode about this because I think it’s one of the most important things we can talk about as faith-based creatives. Not the highlight moments. Not the big wins. The long in-between. The regular Tuesday mornings where you’re just showing up and wondering if any of it is actually working.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Slow does not mean it’s not working. I believe God builds things slowly on purpose because the foundation has to be able to hold the weight of what’s coming. We’ve all seen what happens when someone rises too fast. It tends to fall just as quickly. The process isn’t the obstacle. The process is the point.

Changing lanes is not the same as quitting. I spent years releasing a song a month, then moved into full time production for other artists, then into worship ministry, and back again. Every time I shifted I thought I was walking away from something. But looking back I was never leaving the road. I was just moving to a different lane. And here’s the thing I’ve come to believe: the things God truly calls us to are the things we always return to. That’s how you know they’re yours.

Faithfulness is a commitment, not a feeling. When I pulled back from the podcast in 2024 I thought the season was over. But what I was really experiencing was the result of neglecting the things that actually give me life. Writing. Producing. Creating. When we stop doing the work that fills us up, we have nothing left to bring to anything else. Protecting your creative life is not selfish. It is how you stay in the game long enough for the harvest to come.

You’re probably measuring against the wrong thing. Fruit is not your goals getting checked off. Fruit is what God does with what you do. Those are two very different things. When we feel stuck, we’re usually just looking at the wrong scoreboard, comparing ourselves to other people’s highlight reels and calling it a verdict on our own journey. It isn’t.

The validation trap is real. If other people seeing your work is what keeps you going, you’ve handed your inspiration to something that can be taken away overnight. I’ve felt this. I think most of us have. But joy in the work offered to God is a well that does not run dry. When we make our music as an offering rather than a performance, the fuel source never runs out.

Harvest doesn’t always look like what you planned. My word of the year for 2026 is harvest. And if I were measuring it by some traditional definition, baskets overflowing with exactly what I set out to grow, I’d probably feel like I missed it. But when I look at the relationships that have deepened, the podcast coming back, the creativity that has returned, the peace that has shown up in places I didn’t expect it, that’s harvest. It just didn’t look like I thought it would.

Seth Mosley recommended a book called The Gap and the Gain a few years back and the principle has stuck with me ever since. When we measure our progress against the horizon in front of us, we will never feel like we’re getting anywhere because the horizon keeps moving. But when we look back at how far we’ve come, it’s impossible not to see what God has done. I taught myself music production late at night while Suzy put our kids to bed. I wrote my first song on a napkin at fourteen years old at my Methodist church. I called it Tool. I’m just a tool in the hand of the mighty carpenter. Don’t steal it. And God was just as proud of that song as anything I’ve done since.

You are further along than you know. Stay on the road. Change lanes if you need to. But don’t get off.

If this resonated with you, I’d love for you to take the free What’s Your Lane quiz. It takes about five minutes and helps you identify where your gifts and calling line up right now. You can find it here: https://tr.ee/HU9E3HayLx

And come join the conversation in the Called to Music Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/calledtomusic