When You Can’t See the Progress

Last year, I tackled a ​project on our property​ that turned out to be a whole lot bigger than I expected!

We have an old pasture that’s about 9 acres, minus our yard, that once belonged to my husband’s parents, and we slowly worked for five months to reclaim it from years of overgrowth, debris, and things left behind. Let me tell you, there was no shortage of work to do!

But one of the most frustrating jobs involved something you wouldn’t think would be that difficult—old orange hay bale twine from those BIG round bales of hay.

At first glance, it looked like a tangled mess on the ground that I could just scoop up and throw away. Oh, how wrong I was!

That twine had been lying there for years, possibly decades. Over time, it had become buried in the soil and tangled around roots, weeds, and anything else growing nearby. It was practically part of the landscape!

I pulled by hand. I dug with a shovel, which felt more like trying to rip up carpet than digging in dirt. I even tried burning some of it, but most of the twine was buried too deeply to reach.

Finally, I got our four-wheeler involved. I hooked onto that stubborn mess with straps and tried pulling it loose. Y’all, I was practically popping wheelies, and that twine still wouldn’t budge! I was exhausted and discouraged.

That night, as I lay in bed thinking about the whole ordeal, something occurred to me. Just because I couldn’t SEE any progress didn’t mean nothing was happening.

Surely, with all that pulling and resistance, something had to be loosening beneath the surface. Maybe I just needed to keep at it a little longer.

So the next day, I went back out with a different attitude. I got back on the four-wheeler, attached the straps, and pulled. I backed up. I pulled again. Over and over. And slowly, little by little, that tangled twine began breaking free.

By the time I finished, I had filled FIVE 33-gallon trash bags with old hay bale twine! Can you believe that?!

But somewhere in the middle of all that pulling, God was teaching me something. There’s something ​I’ve been praying about​ and hoping for for years. Something that hasn’t happened yet, despite all the prayers and waiting. And sometimes, if I’m being completely transparent, I get discouraged. I wonder whether anything is changing at all.

Maybe you have something like that in your life, too. A prayer you’ve prayed a hundred times. A situation that seems stuck. A door that just won’t open.

That old twine reminded me that what we can see isn’t always the whole story. Sometimes, things are shifting beneath the surface long before there’s any visible evidence.

Now, I don’t know exactly how or when God will answer every prayer. His timing and His plans aren’t always what we expect. But I do know that waiting doesn’t mean He’s forgotten us, and a lack of visible progress doesn’t mean our prayers are wasted.

So if you’re feeling discouraged today, I hope you’ll remember my stubborn pile of orange twine. Keep praying. ​Keep trusting​. Keep doing the next faithful thing.

You may not be able to see what’s happening beneath the surface, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t at work.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9

October 25, 2026 Morning Brew