Trusting God with resources is one thing. Trusting Him with timing can be much harder. When progress feels slow and results seem delayed, faith is tested in a different way.

The first twenty years were not glamorous. Growth was steady but slow. Progress rarely made headlines, and many seasons felt quiet compared to the rapid success stories unfolding around us.

In those early years, Desert Star was not the company people see today. We were learning, refining, and slowly building trust project by project. There were no headlines announcing our progress and no rapid expansion drawing attention. Instead, there were long seasons of patient working, improving systems, strengthening relationships, and learning lessons that only time can teach.

And comparison has a way of whispering questions into quiet seasons. Other companies seemed to grow faster. Competitors appeared to move ahead more quickly. Opportunities were sometimes open for others while we continued building patiently, one step at a time. There were moments when I questioned the pace and wondered why things were not happening sooner.

Paul the Apostle reminds us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” That promise does not mean every season feels productive. It means God is forming something even when progress appears quiet.

Looking back, those years were building far more than a business. They were building endurance, discipline, patience, and emotional strength. They were forming the internal structure required to carry the weight of future responsibility.

But slow seasons often serve a purpose that fast seasons cannot.

“Preparation rarely looks impressive while it is happening.”
— Jerry R. Meek

In real time, preparation often feels slow, repetitive, and unnoticed. But formation always happens long before the visible structure rises. Elevation without formation eventually collapses because capacity must grow before influence does.

When I look back now, I realize something else. If someone had shown me then what we would eventually be responsible for—the size of the projects, the complexity of the work, the expectations placed upon our team—I probably would have been terrified. I would have questioned whether we were capable of carrying it.

But that is often how God works. He quietly builds capacity before revealing the full scope of responsibility.

“God often builds the foundation slowly because 

He intends the structure to stand for a long time.” — Jerry R. Meek

The question is no longer why those years moved slowly. The real question is whether we would have been ready if they had moved faster.

Preparation is not wasted time. It is a protective time.

Nothing God used in those years was wasted—not the quiet seasons, not the slower growth, and not the discipline that was quietly being formed. What felt slow then became strength later.

God was not delaying the outcome—He was preparing the capacity to carry it.

Reflection

1. What season I once resented may actually be the one that prepared me most for what followed?
2. What capacity might God be forming quietly in my life right now that I will need later?

Keep building, keep growing, and never settle,

-Jerry.

Application Business Leadership