BEHOLD the Story You Are Walking Toward (Week 4 of Lent)
By Cathie Ostapchuk
By the fourth week of Lent, when February fades into March and the days are still just a bit dreary - I often find myself realizing something: we are already closer to resurrection than we think.
Not because everything has changed yet. Most things haven’t. The same responsibilities are waiting. The same leadership realities are still present. The same questions about the future may still linger.
But Lent has a way of quietly shifting our posture.
When we began this journey, we acknowledged our limits. We named the wilderness. We started noticing the beliefs that shape how we lead and how we see ourselves.
And somewhere along the way, something else begins to form.
Hope.
Not loud hope. Not certainty. But the quiet awareness that God is doing something deeper than we can measure.
I have been thinking about the women leaders I’ve been sitting with recently — women who carry responsibility in churches, organizations, families, and communities. Many of them are navigating seasons that feel uncertain or unfinished. They are faithful, but sometimes tired.
Courageous, but sometimes questioning.
And yet, even in those honest conversations, I notice something remarkable.
None of them have lost the story.
Somewhere beneath the fatigue and the leadership weight is still a deep conviction that God is not finished writing what He began.
That is the movement of Lent.
Lent does not rush us to Easter, but it walks us steadily toward it.
Which means that even now, in week four, we are living inside the preparation for resurrection.
And that changes how we move through our days.
It means we begin to practice noticing life.
Not the grand, obvious victories. The quieter ones.
These are small resurrections — the quiet ways life begins to return.
But we have to slow down long enough to behold them.
Sometimes they look like this:
The moment you speak with clarity in a meeting where you once would have stayed silent.
The quiet confidence that returns after a season when you questioned whether you should still be leading at all.
The freedom to let someone else’s expectations go without feeling like you have failed them.
The courage to name what is true instead of managing the emotional temperature of the room.
The realization that your calling is not something you have to prove - only something you have to faithfully carry.
The unexpected spark of hope when you thought the story might be over.
These are small resurrections. And part of our formation is learning to notice them when they appear.
If you want a simple way to live this week of Lent, try a few small practices that retrain your attention:
Each morning, before the day rushes in, pause and ask:
“Jesus, where might I see life today?”
During the day, notice one moment when you respond differently than you once would have — perhaps with more patience, more courage, or more trust.
And in the evening, take a moment to reflect:
“Where did I see signs of resurrection today?”
You may be surprised how often life is already appearing.
Resurrection is not only a future event.
It is a pattern God is weaving through our lives - again and again.
So if your leadership still feels like it is unfolding slowly, if the full story is not visible yet, take heart.
You are not stuck in the wilderness.
You are walking toward resurrection.
And even now, God is forming a story in your life that will one day make sense in the light of new life.
For now, simply keep noticing.
Keep trusting.
Keep walking.
Easter is coming