Why Slow Growth Builds Strong Faith

Have you ever felt like your faith should be stronger by now? Like maybe you aren’t as strong in your faith as you wish you were—and that makes you feel like you’re failing God because you’re still wrestling with doubt, fear, and control?

Today, I want to show you how even some of the faith heroes we read about in the Bible didn’t start off with the great faith we might imagine. They started off just like us—full of doubt, fear, and sin. And yet, God still met them right where they were with patience and grace. He’s doing the same for you.

There have been so many times in my own life where I’ve felt that same pressure to be some great faith warrior—especially with the work that I do. When people know about the faith you have, you can feel this pressure to live up to it. But the reality is, you’re human just like everyone else. You struggle with fears, doubts, and sins, and it can make you feel like you’re not where you need to be spiritually. That can be discouraging.

You might look at other people and start creating these mental pictures—telling yourself stories about how much stronger their faith is compared to yours. That comparison game can slowly erode your confidence and leave you disappointed in yourself and the spiritual progress you’ve actually made.

But in today’s video, I want to present an idea to you: it’s not true that once we come to faith in Jesus, we instantly have this great, unshakable, perfect faith that is never tested. The truth is, faith is a journey, not a destination. It’s something we continue to grow into—a process that strengthens along the way. And in that journey, we need to offer ourselves the same grace that God offers us, knowing that we won’t always get it right, but we are getting better every step of the way.

I want to encourage you to remember that God is patient with us—and it’s time for us to be patient with ourselves. The Bible tells us in James that we should be constantly adding to our faith and strengthening ourselves in spiritual things so we can grow. Maturity and spiritual growth don’t happen overnight—just like you wouldn’t plant a seed and expect it to sprout the very next day. It takes time. And the same is true for your faith in God and your relationship with Him—it’s a journey that takes time to grow.

So today, I want to share with you three ways that, if you’re patient enough, you’ll see faith grow over time. My hope is that as you hear these three ways, you’ll realize that some of them are already happening in your own life—and that recognition will encourage you to keep going.

From Doubt to Dependence  First, we see growth from doubt to dependence—and we see this so clearly in the life of Moses. Moses was born to Hebrew slaves in Egypt, and his mother saved his life by placing him in a basket and sending him down the Nile River. There, he was found by an Egyptian princess who adopted him. So, although Moses was Hebrew, born to slaves, he actually grew up in Egyptian royalty.

Long story short, he ends up killing an Egyptian who was assaulting a Hebrew slave, and when the pharaoh found out and wanted to kill him, Moses ran away. There was a lot of shame, a lot of identity crisis in that moment. Then God comes to him and calls Moses to go back to Egypt because He is going to rescue His people from slavery. If you know this story, you know Moses is full of doubt. He says things like, “Why would the people listen to me?” and “I’m not a good speaker.” He comes up with excuse after excuse, filled with insecurity and fear.

This is his origin story—and I love a good origin story. When we look at the beginnings of so many people of faith in the Bible, we find the same thing: a lot of doubt, a lot of struggle, and a lack of faith. But here’s the beautiful part—it doesn’t stay that way. Throughout Moses’ journey, he sees God’s faithfulness over and over again. By the time we get to Exodus 33:15, God has fulfilled His promise to deliver the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. Now they find themselves wandering in the wilderness once again—this time in need.

God is upset with the Israelites because, even after everything He’s done, they’ve decided to worship false gods. So God says, essentially, “I’ll keep My promise—go ahead to the Promised Land—but I can’t go with you.” And Moses is like, “Hold on, hold on, hold on. I’m not going anywhere without You.”

This moment reveals a deep trust, dependence, and great faith in Moses—years and years later—faith that had developed over his journey. He went from doubting what God could do through him to declaring, “I won’t take a single step without You, God.” Moses had learned that with God’s presence, they could go anywhere and do anything.

I want to encourage you: wherever you feel like you’re lacking faith, wherever you feel like you may be doubting God, take it one step at a time. Moses’ journey from doubt to dependence didn’t happen overnight—it happened one faithful step after another. Instead of trying to figure out the big leap of faith you need to take ten years from now, ask yourself: What do I need to do today? What is God calling me to right now, in this moment? How can you trust Him to feed your spirit with the truth of His faithfulness and let that seed of faith grow over time?

From Control to Surrender The next way our faith grows is from control to surrender. Now, ladies—we might not want to admit it, but we like to be in control. We want to protect ourselves. We want to preserve ourselves. And we think nobody can do that better than us. So we hold on tight. But here’s the thing—that drive for control often reveals a hidden lack of faith.

We see this with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. But here’s the problem—he was already very old, he didn’t have any children yet, and his wife was considered barren, unable to have kids. So God gives them this promise with no visible evidence that it could ever happen. They believed God—but they didn’t fully trust Him to do it on His own. So they decided to “help” Him out.

Sarah tells Abraham to sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, and have a child with her. And that’s how they thought God’s promise would come to pass. That’s control. And how many of you know—that did not work out well? Just like when we try to take control in our own lives, it usually makes things worse, not better.

Our way is never better than God’s way. And the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can stop getting in His way and stalling our own progress in the faith journey. So Abraham and Sarah arrange for him to sleep with Hagar. They have a child, and it causes all kinds of family trauma, abuse, and toxicity. It’s wild, y’all—okay, read the story for yourself. But that’s what happens when we try to take control.

Years later, however, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son—a beautiful foreshadowing of how God would one day sacrifice His Son, Jesus, for us. In this moment, Abraham completely surrenders to God. This is the same man who once lied to a king, saying Sarah was his sister because he was afraid the king would kill him to be with her—that’s control. The same man who slept with Hagar to try to “help” God speed up His plan—that’s control.

But this time, when God asked him to do the unthinkable—sacrifice his son—Abraham didn’t try to control the situation. He could have run away. He could have convinced himself that God didn’t really say that. He could have come up with a dozen ways to take matters into his own hands. But instead, he surrendered. He did exactly what God told him to do. He prepared to sacrifice his son. And if you’ve read the story, you know that God provided a ram in the thicket to be sacrificed instead.

It was a test of Abraham’s faith—and he passed. How did he go from control to surrender? Because he had been taking steps with God all those years before. He learned that control never worked out anyway. He saw, again and again, that God’s way was always the best way. And at some point in your spiritual journey, you’ll come to that same place—where you can truly say, “You know what, God, Your ways are higher. I’m going to let You have Your way.” That’s surrender. And it’s a sign of a spiritually mature Christian. Maybe you’re not there yet—but keep living, keep seeking God, keep trusting Him—and I promise you, you’ll get there.

From Busy to Belief Finally, our faith journey takes us from busyness to belief. Here, we’re going to look at our sister Martha. Oh my goodness—I love her. I even did a Bible study a few years ago called Confessions of a Martha. I think you can still find it on the Beloved Women app, because y’all… I relate to this woman so much.

Jesus comes to her house, and she’s preparing dinner for Him and for the others who are coming. She’s anxious and distracted—focused on serving, which is a good thing, but not the best thing. She’s missing the better part—being present with Jesus. She notices her sister Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His teaching, and it frustrates her. She basically says, “Jesus, tell her to help me!” But Jesus responds, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In that moment, Martha learns a very important lesson: presence is greater than busyness. Busyness can be a distraction. Maybe she was trying to distract herself from the anxiety or excitement of having Jesus in her home. But in doing so, she was missing the fact that Jesus was actually in her home. But when we fast forward a bit, we see that Martha and Mary’s brother, Lazarus, has died. He’s been in the tomb for three days. They had called for Jesus earlier, but He arrived three days later. Everyone is grieving, and it seems like all hope is gone.

But Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead—and even more than that, He’s about to make a powerful statement about His identity: that He is the resurrection and the life. And who do you think is the one to proclaim this truth about Jesus? It’s Martha. This is the same Martha who once doubted Him, saying, “Don’t you care about me?” Now she boldly declares, “You are the resurrection. She moved from busyness and distraction to complete focus and belief in the character and identity of Jesus.

And guess what? That type of growth takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. She had walked with Jesus for days, weeks, and months after that moment in her home, and that journey grew her into a powerful woman of faith—one who knew that true spiritual growth means choosing presence over performance. It took her time to get there, but she did.

I want to encourage you that faith—many times—grows little by little. And that’s not a sign of failure. That’s how spiritual formation works. Often, we want these grand, fast, instant “McDonald’s” testimonies—where someone accepts Jesus and their whole life turns upside down in a moment. And yes, that’s amazing when God moves that quickly. But what we don’t talk about enough is how sometimes transformation takes 10 years… 20 years… even 30 years.

And through it all, God remains faithful—when everyone else turns their back, when everyone else walks away, when everyone else gives up on us—He stays. He keeps working, trusting that change is possible. So I want to encourage you: if God is patient with you, you can be patient with yourself. Don’t despise small beginnings—even in your spiritual growth and maturity. Your doubts, your delays, your detours—they can all come together to deepen your faith in God.

But overcoming doubt and growing your relationship with God doesn’t happen in a day—it’s a daily walk of replacing the lies doubt feeds us with the truth of God’s Word. That’s why we created the Beloved Women app—to give you daily encouragement through audio devotionals, Bible studies, prayer guides, and a community of women of faith, so you never have to grow alone. If you’re ready to build a stronger, more peaceful walk with God, I invite you to download the app and start today. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time—be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.