Have you ever paused in front of a mirror and thought, almost? Almost healed. Almost confident. Almost the woman you know you're meant to be — but not quite there yet. That pause, that space between where you were and where you're going, can feel like the loneliest place in the world. But what if that's actually one of the most sacred places where you need to love the in-between? Because most of us have been taught — by the world, by our own expectations, sometimes even by voices inside the church or community or your job or your family — that we earn the right to love who we see only after we've arrived. After the breakthrough. After the weight loss. After the degree. After we've finally gotten it together. We treat self-acceptance like a finish line, and everything before that line? We dismiss it. Tolerate it. Rush past it on the way to "better." Desire to be supported and encouraged by other like-minded women? Join us at the Kairos FREE Online Community. https://createyournow.com #WellspringWednesday #CreateYourNow #HealthAndWellness But God has never once looked at your unfinished portrait and said, I'll love her when she's done. Not once. Scripture tells us He knew us before we were formed (Jeremiah 1:5). He called us while we were still being knit together in the secret place (Psalm 139:13–14). That means He loved the draft. He loved the sketch. He loved the version of you that hadn't figured anything out yet — and He loves the version standing in the mirror right now who still hasn't figured it all out. The portrait of your life is mid-brushstroke, sweet friend. And the Artist? He isn't panicking. He isn't frustrated with the pace. He isn't comparing your canvas to someone else's. He is tender and intentional and unhurried — and He is asking you to trust the process He's already in the middle of. So why do we keep waiting? Why do we tell ourselves that the woman in the in-between doesn't deserve kindness? That she's "not ready" to be embraced? We wouldn't say that to a friend. We wouldn't look at someone mid-healing and say, Come back when you're finished, and then I'll celebrate you. But somehow we say it to ourselves every single day. This is the part of becoming that no one really talks about — the middle. In this season of learning to love your reflection from root to bloom, the middle matters. The roots are growing, yes. The bloom is coming, yes. But the stem? The reaching? That quiet, unseen stretch between planted and flourishing? That's where most of life actually happens. And it is not wasted space. It is becoming space. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, from one degree of glory to another." Did you catch that? From one degree of glory to another. That means right now — right where you are, in this in-between — you are already in a degree of glory. Not waiting for it. Standing in it. "You are not a rough draft God is embarrassed by. You are a living, breathing testimony of transformation in motion. Love the in-between." ~ Kristianne Wargo The K.I.S.S. ~ Love the in-between! So here's the question: What would change if you decided to love the woman you are right now — not as a consolation prize, but as a genuine act of worship? What do you do now? Is it kind and caring? Or are you brutally raw and disrespectful of who you are and who you are becoming? So how can you help yourself love the in-between? 1. LOOK in the mirror this week — actually look — and speak one kind, true thing over the woman you see. This sounds simple, but for many of us, the mirror has become a place of inspection, not connection. We scan for flaws. We catalog what still needs fixing. We look at ourselves without ever really looking into ourselves — into the eyes of the woman God calls beloved. Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Notice the tense. It doesn't say "I will be wonderfully made once I finish becoming." It says I am. Present tense. Right now. Mid-process and fully wonderful at the same time. So this week, stand in front of that mirror and say one kind, true thing out loud. Not a wish. Not a goal. A truth. Something like, "You are brave for still showing up" or "God is not finished with you, and that is a beautiful thing." Let your own voice be the one that interrupts the criticism for once. Because what you speak over yourself has power — Proverbs 18:21 tells us that life and death are in the tongue. Choose life, my friend. Even when — especially when — you're talking to yourself. 2. SURRENDER the timeline you've placed on your own becoming and tell God, "I trust Your brushstrokes." If we're honest, most of us aren't struggling to believe that God is working. We're struggling with how long it's taking. We set internal deadlines for our own healing: By this birthday I should be over it. By this season I should have it figured out. By now I should be further along. And every time we pass one of those invisible deadlines, the disappointment doesn't push us forward — it buries us a little deeper. But Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Not in your time. In His time. The Master Artist doesn't work on your schedule, and He never promised He would. What He promised is that the finished work would be beautiful — and that every single brushstroke between here and there has purpose. Surrendering the timeline doesn't mean giving up on growth. It means releasing the pressure you were never meant to carry. It means telling God, "I trust Your brushstrokes — even the ones I don't understand yet." As Proverbs 3:5–6 reminds us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." You don't have to see the full picture to trust the Painter. 3. CELEBRATE one area where you are not who you used to be, even if you're not yet who you're becoming. This might be the hardest step of all three — not because celebration is difficult, but because we've trained ourselves to believe that progress only counts when it's complete. We minimize the distance we've already traveled because we can still see how far we have to go. But here's what I want you to understand: the in-between is full of evidence that God has been moving. Think about it. There's something you handle differently now than you did a year ago. A conversation you can have that you couldn't before. A boundary you hold. A prayer you actually believe when you pray it. A reaction that used to control you that doesn't have the same grip anymore. That is worth celebrating. Philippians 1:6 says, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He began a good work. That means the work is already in motion. And if God Himself considers it good while it's still in progress, who are we to dismiss it? Celebration in the middle is not premature. It's prophetic. It declares that you believe God is who He says He is and that He's doing what He said He would do — even before you can see the finished canvas. So name it. Say it out loud. Write it down. Thank God for the version of you that exists right now, because she is living proof that transformation is real, and it is already underway. Please remember that you belong to a God who doesn't make mistakes on His canvas — and He has never once put down the brush. The in-between is not the waiting room. It is the gallery. And what's on your canvas right now — every stroke of healing, every shade of growth, every imperfect, unfinished, God-breathed detail — is already worth seeing. Love her. Love the woman in the mirror who is and who is still becoming. She's not almost something. She is something — right now, today. "Be present. Be incredible. Be YOU!!!" 🔔 Desire to be supported and encouraged by other like-minded women? Join us at the Kairos FREE Online Community. https://createyournow.com TAKE A.I.M. ~ Action Ignites Motivation - This is a complimentary (FREE) coaching call with me. You will discuss your specific situation while gaining tools and strategies to move you forward. (https://form.jotform.com/62988215824163) 🙏 Create Your Now TV on Pray.com (https://pray.com) 🎥 Create Your Now on YouTube (https://youtube.com/createyournow) 🎧 Create Your Now on Spotify, Pandora, and Audible. 🎶 Create Your Now on iHeart Radio (http://www.iheart.com/show/263-Create-Your-Now-Your-Best/) ✍️ YourBestSelfie@CreateYourNow.com Instagram @CreateYourNow @KristianneWargo Twitter @KristianneWargo @CreateYourNow Facebook www.facebook.com/TheKISSCoach www.facebook.com/CreateYourNow Cover Art by Jenny Hamson Photo by Canva.com Music by Mandisa - Overcomer http://www.mandisaofficial.com Song ID: 68209 Song Title: Overcomer Writer(s): Ben Glover, Chris Stevens, David Garcia Copyright © 2013 Meaux Mercy (BMI) Moody Producer Music (BMI) One Songs (ASCAP) Ariose Music (ASCAP) Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) D Soul Music (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
