Step by Step: The Small Things Make a Difference

Do you feel like everything is happening on a small scale? You need something to move or happen on a grand scale, yet all you see is small things. It’s like needing a boulder and getting a pebble. But what if small is enough? 

I was recently reminded of the power of small things. I’ve been working on the second book in The Door of Exterrah series. The story has been slow moving, and I haven’t always had what I thought was enough time to write. There was also a scene that took me a good while to write, for some reason. I got used to the word count being a third of the way there. I’ve spent the past weeks tapping away at the story as well as I could. The other day, I checked the word count for the first time in a little while and got a pleasant surprise. The word count is halfway to the goal! 

Where did those words come from? When did my pokey little manuscript get so long? 

While I was putting in shorter hours of writing, the manuscript still grew. Even just fifteen or thirty minutes a day can make a difference when writing. I remember now that I wrote the first draft for one of the Rise of the Warriors books (I think it was book 4) the same way. Back then, I had very little time for anything other than school work and was only putting around thirty minutes a day into writing. But the book was written within a year. The time seems small and irrelevant, but it makes a difference. This is just one example of the power of small things. 

When I saw how far Exterrah had come through such small writing increments, it made me wonder: How often does God do the same in our lives? 

How often does he move through small moments, inching us to the goal a step at a time? 

As humans, we get so impatient. We live in a world of instant gratification. We want our food in ten minutes or less. Our phones and computers must load fast. Our orders should be shipped the same day. We don’t like to wait for replies from friends or colleagues. Or from God. We know what we want and we want it now. This isn’t just a societal thing; it affects our spiritual lives too. 

We want God to move as quickly as everything else does. But God is far wiser than us. He knows that rushing isn’t always a good thing. He has a virtue many of us, including myself, lack: patience. 

The thing is, God knows the future. He sees down the road, around the corner, and over the distant hills. We can only see our hand an inch from our faces—if that. God knows that sometimes getting something right this minute isn’t good for us. He sees when slow is better and when waiting is as much as blessing as receiving. Often, when God moves slowly, he’s preparing us for what is to come. Sometimes, we aren’t ready for what we ask for. 

Going back to writing, I can see this in my author journey. I wanted to publish my work when I was thirteen. Back then, I wrote mysteries. I finished one and thought it was ready for publishing. Read that again: I finished one… one full draft. I didn’t rewrite or edit. I don’t think I even read what I had written. I just wanted to publish. I prayed about it, did some research, and you know what? Nothing happened. For which I am incredibly grateful, because that story should never see the light of day. I wasn’t ready, and God knew it. Did he not answer my prayers? He answered, just not in the way I wanted. His answer? The blessing of waiting. 

Fast forward two years to where I’m fifteen and writing sci-fi. I was no longer seeking to publish immediately. One day, I was writing and just sat back and prayed, “God, should I even bother?” Such an indescribable feeling fell over me that could mean nothing but, “Yes”. In that moment, God called me to write. So I wrote and never looked back. Did I publish? Well, you won’t see my name on the cover of a sci-fi book. I never even finished the story I was working on at the time. I needed a break from the story and prayed about what to write in the meantime. And I switched to a different sci-fi book. I finished two short books in that series before I needed a break from that world too. 

Meanwhile, I had fallen in love with fantasy through Rachel Starr Thomson’s The Seventh World Trilogy when I was nineteen. Since then, I haven’t been able to get enough fantasy. When I needed a break from my then current WIP, I prayed about it and turned toward Prophecy Awakens. The rest… well, Prophecy Awakens was published almost a year ago, with A Battle of Shadows and Range of Loss released this year. Darkness Descends (book 4) is in rewrites, The Door of Exterrah series is underway, as is an urban fantasy, and I’ve completed another book that is on hold at the moment because I can’t handle another series right now. 

With the exception of receiving my call to write, it may all seem like a heap of abandoned works and dead ends until I actually published something. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t face discouragement along the way, and still do. But all those years weren’t wasted, and I still believe I was writing the stories God wanted me to write at the time, even if they may never be published. It wasn’t time wasted; it was a journey of small steps. 

Every word written made me a better writer. Every minute of research into how to get published as well as random facts related to now abandoned books gave me knowledge. I explored different genres long before I knew it was a recommended step toward becoming a better writer. And my love of fantasy? Reading that book as a teenager seems like a minor thing, but it changed the course of my writing and, thereby, my life. I wouldn’t be the nerdy elf I am today without that first fantasy book, and none of my books in the genre—published and awaiting their chance to shine—would exist. 

This whole story may seem trivial, but it’s a long-winded example of how God works through small steps. Had he given me the ability to publish at thirteen, I would have had to change my name and rebrand… more than once. By moving slowly, God prepared me for where he always knew he wanted me to be. And I believe he is still preparing me for what’s to come. 

What about your story? Is God guiding you into a season of waiting? Are you looking for a boulder while God is moving pebbles? Maybe you should take a step back and trust God’s process. Even a pebble can start an avalanche. God knows what he’s doing. 

Often, we’re too busy looking for God in the monumental to see him in the ordinary. But he’s there. He’s moving mountains—and a single speck of dirt. He’s guiding the tide—and gathering individual drops of water. God moves in the amazing, the enormous, the impossible to miss. But he’s also in the small, mundane, seemingly insignificant moments. He’s building us, piece by piece, into who he wants us to be. 

So keep your eyes open. Rejoice in the mountain moving, and in the single grain of sand. Both are important; both count. As scripture says: 

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10, NLT). 

“Who dares despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10, NIV). 

Both translations make it clear: The small things count. 

So, wherever you find yourself in your journey, remember that each step is important. Rejoice in what God is doing, even in the waiting and small things. He knows what he’s doing, and how to get you where you’re going. One step at a time.