The Messy Middle

The hardest part of your story usually isn’t the beginning or the ending. It’s the middle, when the bills stack up, the doubts get loud, and you’re still trying to show up with faith even when nothing looks “glam” from the outside.

I’m Colette Marie, and I’m talking straight about what I call the messy middle: the unfinished chapters we’re tempted to hide while we post only the mountaintop moments. We look at social media and assume everyone else is thriving, but so many of us are quietly asking, “God, where are You in this?” I share why authenticity matters, how discernment keeps honesty from becoming oversharing, and why the broken places in your story can be a blessing to someone who feels alone.

You’ll also hear me open up about my own wrestle with calling, confidence, and building, including the pressure of trying to get clients and the fear that I’m not doing what God wants me to do. We talk practical encouragement too: praying, staying in the Word, finding community, using resources, and being willing to tell the truth when someone close asks how you’re really doing. I lean on Proverbs 3:5–6 and Romans 8:28 as reminders that God can direct your path and use even this season for good and for purpose.

If you’re in a hard season of faith, entrepreneurship, relationships, or family life, let this be your reminder that you haven’t been forgotten. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

Transcript

Do You Share The Middle

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Do you share the middle parts of your story? The part that's messy, the parts that say I have started this thing and I'm struggling with it. Hi, I'm Colette Marie. And if this is your first time, welcome to our podcast. And if you've been riding along with us for a while, thank you for staying. On today's episode, I want to talk about our stories. You know that we like to talk about you know the things that are going well. If you look at Instagram and social media, a lot of the postings that people do, or we do is that we show that everything is glam, everything is going well, we are beautiful, well put together, family is intact, work is intact, businesses are flourishing, and we are all on this high. But how often do we pause to tell the middle parts of the stories? The part that's not going too well, the part where we are struggling in our faith, the part where we are struggling to find the answers to the issues that we're facing, the parts where we are wondering, God, where are you in the midst of this story? The part where someone else needs to hear that yes, you are going through this. I am going through this. And if you are going through it and is able to grow and see God in the midst, then I'm able to do it. Because we want to be authentic, we want to always be real, we want to always be honest and open and transparent with how we are feeling and what is happening. Not just talking about our mountaintop experiences, because we all have that. But we also have times when we always have to be down in the valley as well, right? We can't stay on the mountaintop at all. And we saw that with Moses at some point. We will have to come down. And so when we're down in the valley and we're going through our rough times, do we keep that hidden? Do we keep that only to ourselves and you know, content with just sharing all the good stuff, everything that is happening that is great? And yes, it makes for a great social media post. It looks real pretty, real beautiful. But what about the broken places? What about the parts where you're hurting? What about the parts where you're struggling? Could that use that part of your story to be a blessing to someone else to help encouraging, encourage someone else to hold on? God is writing your story and you have not forgotten. In no way am I encouraging you to spread everything out there for all and sunder. No, all I am saying is that we need to start telling others about the messy middle, the messy middle in our stories. When I think about what the Lord has called me to do in terms of telling my story, and if you've never read my book, Position for Purpose, he gave me that small book and he says, write. And I had to be willing to share those parts that some persons might not have known, the challenges that I have gone through. Because he knows the end reader, he knows the persons who are going to read the story, and he also knows those who I will have to share it publicly with as well. Because he know the struggles that they're going through. And let's face it, we want to see someone else. We want to know that someone else has been going through the same thing that we're going through. So when we feel upset, or when we feel as if we're abandoned, or when we feel like nothing is happening, or door is opening, and all of these challenges and things that we're having, and we can we feel as if we are all alone and there's no help. There is someone else there that can encourage us to give us some strategies, some ways that they were able to go through what they have been going through and how they came out on the other side. One of the things that I have been struggling with, right, is just is this what God wants me to do? The something that I'm doing, is this what He wants me to do? I'm struggling with getting clients, I'm I'm struggling in showing up the way how I should show up because I still have these issues that I want to work on. And so, even I don't want to be one of the persons who is keeping that behind. Because sometimes people can look at you and they think you have it all together. And we really don't have it all together, but it's a choice that we make to say, God, I'm trusting you with today. I'm trusting you with today. I'm not sure what's happening, but I've had experiences with you where the place that I am now I've been here before, and I've seen you come through for me time and time and times again. Right? So I don't know where you are in your journey today. You may be wondering, Father, where are you? The bills are stacking up, the children are giving me trouble. Uh, there's issues on the work, there's issue within churches, issues all around me, and I feel like giving up. I just don't know how I can keep on holding on. My mind feels like it is going off. We can say to someone, it is because of God. I had to tap into him. I had to say, Holy Spirit, just help me because I don't know what I am going to do. And when he lays someone on our hearts, right? Especially if we're aware of someone else who has going through the same things that we're going through, or something similar. Then we can use our story to say, listen, sis, I have been there. Listen, bro, I have been there. I can help you. This is how God has helped me. And you share some strategies, right? Whether it is that you are someone who prays, someone who reads the word, surround yourself with a community who is able to understand and to help to point you to resources that can help read the books, whatever it is, right? We want to be a community that helps to build each other up. Right? We don't want to just show everything that seems glam. We also want to show that yes, we are building and it's not easy, but we are deciding every day that God has given me something to build. And if He has given me something to build, that means that there are buyers out there for this. Whatever it is, I just using buyers as a metaphor. There's someone out there who needs what you have given me to build. So help me to stay, help me to stay true to you, help me not to walk away from this thing. Because this thing that I am doing, this family that I'm building, this business that I am building, this relationship that I am building, whatever it is that you are building, is worth it because I believe that you've already equipped me and given me the tools to make a difference. And yes, I may be walking through a hard season now, but at the other end, I am going to come out as pure gold because it is you who have gifted me. So the messy middle is not something that is left behind closed doors, right? And then we go home and we take it up and we open the door and we show the brightest of smiles. And of course, we are not going to show up the way how we feel. But we always want to be authentic. Someone asks and someone who's close, how are you doing? You know, we like to say, Oh, we are blessed and highly favored, all is well. Well, on the inside, we are being eaten away by the hardship of life. My encouragement to you today is to trust God. My encouragement to you, if you're in the middle, in the messy middle, know that God is right there with you. And if He's right there with you, you you can be right there with someone else as well, to share with someone else that the same God who is with me is the same God who is with you. Trust in the Lord, my sister, my friend, my brother, with all thine heart, and lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. God is with you. My favorite text of all, and you would know that Romans 8 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. So your messy middle, God has a plan for it. God will use it for his namesake, God will use it to glorify himself in you. Don't keep your messy middle hidden. Someone else needs to hear it to be encouraged to keep going, keep building, keep showing up. Have an amazing day. Father, I thank you for my friend who is listening to this episode today. You know where they are, you know how messy their middle is. But I pray, Spirit of the living God, that you will show up in those parts. And as you encourage Almighty God, as you open doors, as you give them strategies, Almighty God, on this journey, I pray, Lord God, that they'll stand in the gap for someone else. That they, Lord God, will share their stories with someone else as an encouragement and a reminder that they are not alone, that you are with them and that they are with that person. We honor you for all that you do, and I give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. See you next time on another Position for Purpose Conversations. I'm your host, Calette Marie. Leave a review. I would love to hear about your middle, your middle, and how you are walking that out and who you are sharing that with. Blessings.