What If Staying is the Real Leap of Faith?

It was the sleepover of the year in third grade. So I was shocked and honored (and thrilled) to be invited. But it didn’t take me long to realize it might not be my favorite weekend activity.

Over a much-anticipated dinner of frozen pizza and Sprite, birthday cake and gifts, we watched a movie that still wakes me up at night, 40+ years later. The image that stuck was a hand reaching desperately out of a fresh grave. After lots of games and giggling, nacho cheese Doritos and Jiffy Pop popcorn, we unrolled our sleeping bags in the living room, next to the front door.  I placed mine close to the birthday girl (who I figured knew an escape route) and hoped I could survive the night. The house was dark, but not silent. Creaks and whistles seemed deafening to a little girl with a big imagination in a house she wasn’t used to. My friend’s mother checked on us a few times, and it was all I could do to not grab her leg and beg her to call my mom to come get me. 

For some reason—likely fueled by peer pressure—I chose to stay.

“STAYING” IN SCRIPTURE

The bible has its own terms for “staying.”

The word “abide” appears 118 times in the Bible, 40 times in John’s New Testament gospel. “Abide” (Greek: meno) signifies a deep, lasting, and active relationship with Jesus. It’s more than just a temporary stay; it’s about remaining connected to Him, trusting in His word, and allowing His love to permeate every aspect of life.

Here “abiding” means remaining, dwelling, continuing in relationship.

 The concept is central to Christian theology, particularly in describing a believer’s relationship with Jesus. And it is closely related to a word we use more often: faithfulness.

“Being faithful” also means staying. Faithful in marriage, faithful to the cause, a faithful dog (or friend). Though it takes work, as in abiding, the main point is not leaving.

Though Abraham and Sarah did lots of travelling on the way to Canaan, their real story is the staying. They stayed faithful to God when His promise of many descendants didn’t seem to be going anywhere—for decades. Abraham is considered the father of our faith, and I imagine in no small part to his abiding in those years when nothing was changing.

“It takes some genuine, unrelenting faith to wake up to the same storm, the same unanswered prayer, in the same unchanged situation, and still say with confidence, ‘Lord, you are faithful and I still trust You.’

Makala Hicks Ellenburg

Staying says, I’m not leaving, Lord.

Perhaps Peter said it best after Jesus asked, “Do you want to leave, too?”

 

“Lord, where would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.”

John 6:68 ERV

Being faithful and abiding  means staying the course He has us on. I like to be enroute somewhere—goal-oriented. Not treadmill/stationary bike/treading water. But I’m learning God isn’t found only in the outcome or the destination. He’s maybe even more present in the staying and waiting. Abiding is His nature.

At that childhood sleepover, my friend’s mother offered for anyone to sleep on the floor of her room if we needed to. And I knew I had the power to leave. No mother can resist a nine-year-old girl’s tears and pleas to go home. I had a choice: ask adults to scurry around to retrieve me that late night so I could go home to my own familiar bed, or I could stay put and trust my friend’s mother to keep me safe. 

But there was something deeper happening. My friend didn’t just want me to stay in the house – she wanted me to stay in the sleeping bag room, in the same space. When that hand kept reaching from the grave into my almost-asleep psyche, I considered getting out of there, or at least to somewhere safer than two feet from the front door. “Don’t go sleep in my mom’s room,” my friend begged. “Stay here with me.”

Abiding is a rich, personal word like that ask.

Abiding refers to constancy, permanence, endurance:

“ Abide in me, and I in you. .”

John 15:4 , ESV

This abiding is close faithfulness. It means choosing to stay with Jesus through the dark seasons, the confusing times, the moments when we’re tempted to run back to old familiar comforts. trusting that something sacred happens when we refuse to leave His side even when nothing seems to change.

It’s remaining in relationship when feelings change or circumstances grow difficult. And just as I discovered my friend’s steadfast presence, we find that Jesus never leaves our side – His faithfulness anchors our own. The relationship deepens not just through the good times, but especially through choosing to stay when staying feels hard.

STAYING ISN’T EASY 

Sometimes it’s not easy to stay. Faithfulness might not be our first impulse. God understands, and He’s had a plan from the beginning. 

“Abiding in” Jesus is different than “doing for” Jesus. For me, doing is much easier than staying in stagnant circumstances. It gives me an illusion of control.

“Abiding in” Jesus is different than “doing for” Jesus. For me, doing is much easier than staying in stagnant circumstances.

I support a big mission trip with a grand plan. I love a good itinerary, run-of-show, or map.  But truth is, love doesn’t always look big or loud—it can look like slowing down, seeing someone fully, and being the hands of Jesus in the quiet, unchanging moments. 

A friend of mine—a seasoned missionary— advised me on my first mission trip when I wanted to feed everyone, give them money for clothes, and help get their children into school, “Sit here for the afternoon and talk to them. Give them your attention and time.” I didn’t think that was big enough. But she was right. Years later, I’ve come to realize that was needed more than another program or plan.

Choosing to stay and abide is often the less bougie option.

We all know from our Spring Break days, ”staying” is not exciting or glamourous or even interesting most of the time—but it is powerful. 

It’s interesting that Ephesians 6 doesn’t even ask us to win the battle. He’s already done that. It calls us to put on the armor God provides, to depend on His strength, and to stand our ground. To stay. 

Perhaps standing still is the most powerful call on our lives as it prepares our hearts for the greater things God has planned for us to do.

Amy Elaine Martinez

Throughout the night, with open eyes and an overactive mind, I chose to remain. When I heard strange noises, instead of leaving, I whispered to my friend. When I felt homesick, I didn’t roll up my bag and head to her mom’s room, or to my own room. I stayed and let my friend comfort me. When morning came with chocolate chip pancakes and manicures, I was glad I didn’t leave during the difficult moments in the dark.

Similarly, I have felt blessed to experience God in a deeper way over the last ten years while I’ve remained in heart failure. I’ve leaned into writing when my stamina stayed low.

From my journal:

Last month when I learned my numbers were too good to list me for transplant, my cardiologist said, “I’m happy but also sad …since you’re still stuck in limbo." She was right in many ways: my health, my heart, nothing new. Part of me is disappointed, part of me is relieved. We talked about hanging on in heart failure to old age being better than a dramatic surgery, the possibility of a heart transplant later on, whether she’d still be there practicing cardiology at that time. And how our friendship has grown over the years of treatment.

As a friend wrote (and it felt like just for me):

…real healing doesn’t always shout. Sometimes, it’s silent. Ongoing. Sacred. 

Gladys Childs

Scripture has whispered of the power and purpose of ongoing storylines. Even and maybe especially in those “boring” parts we tend to skip in daily bible readings. You know, the parts that don’t seem to be part of the story, the parts that seem to be going nowhere, like the laws and rituals in Leviticus, the chapters in Joshua about tribal inheritance, and the genealogies in Numbers. All hint at the constancy and faithfulness of God and His people.

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:4, ESV

Most of us like the more dramatic stories.

We like faith to show up in big ways: in a fiery furnace, a lion’s den, an empty tomb. We even use the term  “leap of faith”  to mean  a big move, something bold, fast, or at least forward. But what if the real show of faith is staying?

We use the term  “leap of faith”  to mean  a big move, something bold, fast, or at least forward. But what if the real show of faith is staying?

In abiding, we hold to knowing that the same God who made the covenant with Abraham has made faithfulness possible for the whole world through Jesus. And when Jesus wouldn’t physically be here anymore, God had us covered then, too.

HELP TO ABIDE

Abiding is actually a mutual indwelling: We remain in Him, He in us.

Jesus saying “Abide in Me,” is urging us to remain or continue to believe and trust in Him: Faith.

 It’s something we are not equipped to keep doing on our own, especially when the going gets tough and constant. So God gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us. 

You know him (the Spirit of truth), for he dwells with you and will be^[a]in you.

John 14:17, ESV

The beautiful part is that my sleepover friend never left either. Even when I was scared or restless, my friend remained right there beside me. (Though most of the other girls would have been more fun that night.) By morning, our friendship had deepened because we weathered the long night together. Just like my cardiologist and I.

Chronic illness involves staying. But whether that’s part of your story or not, you know the challenge of abiding. You have something in your life that makes staying with God mundane and yet difficult, too. I hope you’ll stay in the story. Remember His faithfulness that enables your own. 

Your hand reaching out to Him will always be met with understanding, and peace, and His presence. 

And perhaps one day—like me—you’ll say, “Thank You, God,  for keeping me here.”

Listen to this post read by the author HERE.