From the Field - May 2025

Most people, regardless of their upbringing, culture, or nationality, are influenced by sayings, analogies, or idioms that originate from the above. They shape the way we view the world even. One saying that comes to mind is “trust the process.” If you have been a part of any team—sports, corporate, or even in a local church—you have likely heard this saying. It sounds great and could possibly help unify a team through practices or trainings. It helps one contemplate how the current struggle is building toward greater success. It allows one to push through stress and pain in hopes that they might complete a goal. There is a time and a place for it too. The saying has stuck in society, because often it works. It is pragmatic and effective. What happens when it is not enough, though?   

As Christians—even as a pastor—the process matters, and as leaders we should care about the processes that help our churches and lives measure and experience success. However, when life and ministry proceed to get more difficult and it feels hard to breathe, there is something even more important than “trusting the process.” We need to dig deeper and ask a different question. Who created or who is working the process out? This is where I found myself the past year in my ministry and life in general. I knew to trust the process, that being sanctification, being faithful in the spiritual disciplines and my role as a pastor, husband, and dad. The struggles in ministry and life’s circumstances were not waning, though.

I needed to be reminded of the One who was and is providential over “the process” of the Christian life. These reminders are necessary, because even though it is not intentional most of us gravitate toward “to-do lists” not “to-be lists.” If our eyes and minds are not fixated on God and His providence, we will lose heart when our processes seem only to lead to more problems rather than successes. That raises another problem, though: Sometimes our definitions of success and problems differ from God’s. 

I am reminded of Philippians 2:13—“ For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” God is working toward His purpose in His people; He simply sees my life and yours differently. We see this all throughout the Bible, and specifically in the life of Paul who wrote that verse from Philippians. Our trust is in someone beyond a process; We trust in God and His providence. This does not call us to ease up on holiness or processes but to remember why we seek to be faithful to pursue them. We want to be like the one who we are trusting in. Trust is only as good as where you place it anyway, and when we place it in our God through the finished work of Christ, we can claim these words: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Trust in His providence.

Williamson Deavours

Associate Pastor of Pump Springs Baptist Church

Executive Director of First Priority Tri-States